Up On High
by Optimus Magnus
Summary: OOC/Not very AU.  This is not like the series, go eslewhere for rewrites.  If this doesn't suit your tastes, don't read it.  If you do and you don't like: then you are at fault, not me.  Purisits WILL be offended
1. Warriors, Ho

Disclaimer: I own no characters or such otherwise mentioned things.  All attack names for the Eva characters whom use such things will be made up, others are from the game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

********

In the year 2000, mankind suffered a disaster, the magnitude of which hasn't been seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs: 2nd Impact.  In the years following that event, certain measures were taken to see to it that the beings that caused the disaster, giants known only as 'Angels' would not have an easy task of making a 3rd Impact should they return.  Using a small amount of bio-matter from the 1st Angel, 'Adam': scientists discovered that the Angel's bodies were not dissimilar to our own and that they could accelerate and control its growth.  Soon, scientists were able to clone body parts and organs for amputees and cancer sufferers.  But the militaries of earth also saw applications for this, and under the banner of defence, the UN commissioned Japan's foremost authority on biomechanics, Yui Ikari, to begin 'Project Evangelion'.

The Eva project was commissioned to create bio-mechs of great size; speed and strength to defend the earth against the Angels if they returned, many believed that they would.  It took almost 4 years for the first Eva, Unit 00, to be built and become operational.  It was just the prototype, now that the designers and engineers knew how to d it, the set about creating mans' most powerful weapon: Evangelion Unit 01.  Like a human, it would have behavioural guidelines and firewalls in its programming, but like a human those barriers and guidelines could be abolished.  While work proceeded on that end, another scientist, Naoko Akagi, a world renowned neurologist and neural programmer, set about building the interface to these great beasts.  It consisted of a suit for its pilot and two small tabs worn on the head near the frontal lobes of the brain.  To conduct the neural waves, chemical engineer Kazuhiko Katsuragi developed Link Connection Liquid, or 'LCL' an amber gelatinous compound that was oxygenated and could conduct neural waves: it's make up was similar to the fluid found in the brain and womb of a pregnant woman.

Standing above this esteemed group was UN appointed Japanese Armed Forces General Gendo Ikari, husband of Yui Ikari.  His right hand man was Colonel Kouzou Fuyutski, a man who had fought in the last armed conflict before 2nd Impact: he was old and wise, but also strong in both body and spirit.  Watching these mortals was a group of aliens whom had taken it upon themselves to observe mankind: they were astonished and impressed that mankind had recovered so quickly after loosing half of their kin in a single act, but a greater peril than the Angels was on the way: a creature named Buu would enter the earth solar system in a year.  The aliens were scholars, not warriors.  However, they knew of a race that could blend in reasonably well with humans and could provide the strength necessary to defeat them, but only a few survived; and even fewer attained the power required to beat Buu but it was man's only hope.  The alien watchers, known as the Kais were able to track down a young man with extraordinary fighting skills and a honed ability to use 'Ki', the energy that exists with in all living beings.

"Is he the one?" North Kai, the overseer for the northern quadrant of the galaxy asked

"We do not know, but he is the strongest of them all" the Grand Kai answered

"Send the other one too; the difference in power is minimal" South Kai insisted

"SILENCE" boomed the Supreme Kai.  "The Old Kai has ordained that they shall both go," he said

An old and haggard looking man about 4 feet tall staggered into view, but his age and appearance belied a great power, but the beings they chose for this job held greater power than even the Supreme Kai could fathom.  He tapped his stick on the ground to call order

"This really is a terrible breach of our oath: but mankind cannot combat the beast known as Buu.  Even the war machines will prove no match for him.  We must send warriors" the old man still had a deep and powerful voice

"Trunks and Goten are all that remain of the Fusion Fighters, the others have gone to Other World and the Mystic has long since departed this plane for a higher existence," Supreme Kai added.

"Remind them to keep the power down until Buu arrives: the humans mastered Ki many years ago, but few use it to fight" West Kai piped up.  Old Kai just rolled his eyes

And so the decision was made: the two Saiyen warriors, Goten and Trunks would depart with their Potarra earrings to Earth with the express purpose to defend it from Buu, but were free to do as they pleased until he arrived.  That would be in 1 year.  The two teens were powerful fighters and when they fused with the Potarra, they became the world's current most powerful warrior, the Fusion Fighter known as Gotenks, a force to be reckoned with.  The Supreme and Old Kai watched them leave for Earth, and when they were out of sight, the Supreme Kai turned to his predecessor

"Are they going to be able to keep focused?  They are teenagers after all, it may be that they fall in love or even die" Shin, the Supreme Kai, said to the Old Kai

"Ha, ha: your concern is unnecessary Shin; I recall that even you were able to find love in your position.  And if they should be struck by the emotion of love, who knows?  It may make them fight that little bit more to defeat Buu," he said, casting an eye at Shin's wife who was a powerful goddess

Old Kai turned and retired to his chambers, his stick going 'click' as he used it in the marble hallways of Kaishin: the Palace of the Kais and he dwelled a little on his successor's words

[Love… if I know Saiyens: fighting when their mate's life is at stake turns them into vicious and merciless warriors; and those who are as powerful as Goten and Trunks soon make dust of evil, in all its forms] he thought

He looked back at the Earth and frowned: behind Eva, although their purpose was to save mankind, he could sense an evil group behind the plotting to destroy the Earth and for a brief second, felt pity for the evil men on that planet.  Trunks and Goten took to it rather unkindly and great evil was punished by its total destruction at their hands.  Each of them had the same characteristics as their father in some ways, Trunks was pure but not above using covert means and subterfuge to achieve a goal, while Goten was good at charming people, women especially.  He let out a loud belly laugh as he imagined a rather charming and well-chiselled Saiyen like Goten in a planet full of young women.

*************************************

It is 2015: a young man waits for someone to come and pick him up from a phone booth, with him is his friend of many years, now girlfriend; Hikari.  For this is where our story; begins…

*************************************

Shinji rang the number his father gave him in his last letter to try and contact the woman who was supposed to get him and Hikari.  Her name was Misato Katsuragi; she was a Captain in the organisation that his father worked for.  Hikari was there because his old man had sent two tickets and Shinji brought her: she had relatives in Tokyo 3 who would take care of her here and the school the pair attended was closing for repairs.

"Are you sure this is the place, Shinji?" Hikari asked while eating an ice cream

"Yeah, this is the place the old guy said to come to" he replied

Hikari wasn't sure that Shinji had the right address but was willing to take it on blind faith that he did: she and Shinji had been friends for many years, and he had never steered her wrong in anything the two embarked on together, not to say they didn't get into a few spots, but he never deliberately led her into danger: it just seemed to follow the poor kid around like a lost and hungry puppy.  Shinji looked up and for a brief second, he saw someone: she looked like his mother but was his age, hade blue hair and red eyes, those and her pale skin told Shinji she suffered from albinism.  A flock of birds disturbed his trance and he looked up, then back; she was gone.

Before Shinji could ask if Hikari had seen the girl as well, a loud explosion rang in the pair's ears.  The noise made the whole area shake, which was deserted for some reason.  Shinji's eyes widened when he felt a large amount of power in the distance, it was there for a few seconds and then it was gone.

"Did you feel that?" he asked

"Feel what?" Hikari queried in return

"A huge amount of power, a level I've never thought possible" he said, confused.

Hikari was beginning to wonder if Shinji's training with his uncle Kazuhiko hadn't fried his brain from one to many blows and blasts to the head, when a great rumble nearly shook the pair to the ground.  Moments later, a green giant came around the corner.

"Okay, that isn't something you see everyday" Hikari said as she and Shinji prepared to run for it.

Before they could make their escape however, a blue Renault Alpine skidded into view and the door opened.  A woman of about 30 years old was driving.

"Sorry I'm late" she said and glanced beside her "GET IN!" she screamed.

Shinji and Hikari were only to happy to oblige and jumped into the car, of course it ended up with Hikari sitting in Shinji's lap, but no one was really in the mood to care if the two were sitting on each other.  The woman kicked the car into gear and sped off, but the car had taken a bit of damage to the roof but it still went like a scald cat on speed.  Silence Reined until they were clear of any danger.

"Well, I'm Misato, Misato Katsuragi" the driver introduced herself as they approached a boom gate.

"I'm Shinji, and the lovely young lady sitting in my lap is Hikari, my girlfriend" Shinji said, a rare, sly smile gracing his innocent features.

"Shinji!" Hikari was a bit embarrassed but she still smiled and introduced herself to Misato.

*******

Meanwhile…

*******

In a secluded and run down part of the city: Trunks and Goten, the Fusion Fighters took in this new place.  They were familiar with many Earth cultures, they were especially well learned in the field of Japanese culture, and since it appeared that they had landed in Japan, they would be fine.

"We need a domicile" Trunks, in his monotone voice said

"Agreed.  I'll need a place to bring my dates" Goten said, trying to joke with his friend.

"Come on" Trunks said dryly and began walking, and scanning for power levels

[Hmmm; I sense three large human power levels in this country.  And one that has barely enough Ki to sustain life] he frowned as he tried to locate this very unusual power

Goten saw a large building with its tenant register on the door: 1 person, no name was posted but he assumed that no one would notice them, as long as they stayed out of sight at any rate.

"We should get something on the floor above this person, we don't want to startle them by flying past their windows at night" Goten said

Trunks wasn't paying any attention, he was still puzzling over the seriously low power level and was wondering if maybe it was just a terminally ill person in a hospital

********

He was half right: the power Trunks was sensing belonged to a girl his age with blue hair and red eyes: the albino known as Rei Ayanami: 15, pilot of Evangelion Unit 00.  The girl in question was in hospital; she had been injured during a test on her Eva about 2 weeks ago.  But that was not the reason her power was so weak; truth was that it was always this way, she didn't know why and had never thought to question it.

[I wonder if the commander's son is here yet?], she thought.  The commander had promised her that his son would come and help.

The entrance of a blonde scientist known as Ritsuko disrupted her thoughts.  They were step sisters, Ritsuko's mother had married Rei's father and Ritsuko was nice, but Rei was just so anti-social that it created a rift, (that the blonde had many times tried to fix and was not planning on giving up yet), to develop.  She sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at her younger sibling

"Feeling better?" she asked kindly, smiling

"A bit" Rei replied softly, trying to go to sleep, she was exhausted.

"Okay, I'm just gonna take your readings and leave you in peace.  By the way, the commander's son was collected a few minutes ago, he'll be here soon" Ritsuko said

The blonde couldn't help but grin at the girl's reaction; she had been waiting to meet him because she wanted to learn how to use Sha-Kai-Ken, a form of martial arts and the commander also said the boy was to become a pilot, like herself, and she then might have a friend with which to disperse the loneliness she felt as a pilot, and frankly Ritsuko couldn't blame her; her job was the most stressful of all of them, even though there was serious pressure on her as well: she didn't have to go out and fight with those things and nearly die from the fight.

*******

Trunks and Goten, unknowingly had taken up residence in the same building as Rei.  Trunks looked around and wondered if there was any conceivable reason that anyone would want to live here: it was noisy, unsafe and the building itself was a pigsty; he even wagered the only clean room would be the permanent resident, whose identity they still did not know.

"Almost makes me wonder if this race is worth saving" Trunks said in disgust

"You are so critical; half of them are dead and almost 45% of their land masses are under water from the polar caps melting.  They've done well" Goten was always willing to give others the benefit of the doubt.

"We'd better search for jobs.  And it may also be prudent to enrol in the local school" Trunks outlined a battel plan

"Oh come on Trunks, we're smarter than half these people no sweat and we can always hunt for meat" Goten was right

But Trunks wasn't buying it anyway

"Nice try hotshot, we work and we get some mullah" he replied

A loud noise made the pair look outside: a giant purple robot was having some rough and tumble with a green giant.  Goten smiled

"COOL.  GIANT WRESTLING!" he cried and began watching

[Ah, so that is the famous Evangelion 01, not bad, for a bunch of primitives] he was still being critical

The battle raged on for almost an hour, Trunks discovered that the Ki of the pilot was the 3rd strongest in the country.  He could even tell from the wavelengths how old the pilot was.  The pilot was 15: he couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl but at a guess, he'd say it was a male.  The battle ended with the purple machine rupturing a red globe on the green alien's chest, causing a massive explosion, which the boys both pointedly ignored because it was only small fry compared to what they could do.

"Poor sport, I say" Trunks said in a mock English aristocratic tone

"Oh rather" Goten replied in similar fashion

The two laughed, not knowing that these attacks, would soon impact on many.

********

Shinji woke up the next day in hospital: Hikari was asleep with her head was lying on the side of Shinji's bed.  A smile spread across the boy's face: how he loved her, and why she him he never knew, but was glad of the love.  His mother was taken from him long ago: it was nearly unbearable for him and his father.  Gendo sent him to live with his uncle and aunt a year after Yui's death.  The pair still got on, but the father-son bond was gone, and both saw that it was never coming back, they could laugh, speak and eat together but their relationship was more of friends or brothers than father and son.  Yui died during an accident in the lab.  Shinji didn't know all the details, nor did he want to.

"Hikari, wake up babe" he nudged her sleeping form while whispering.

"Shinji, huh?" she babbled and rubbed her eyes.

"How's the other girl?" Shinji asked: his father had wheeled Rei out to guilt him into piloting rather than trying to engage the creature in a battle of Ki

"She's cool, Misato is with her now; the blonde we met is her step sister.  I'll get them," she said

Shinji grinned and pulled her onto the bed with him "You know, this cot is really comfortable and since it's a private room and we're alone…" he trailed off allowing Hikari to imagine the rest

"You!" she blushed and whacked him upside the head

"Am I interrupting?" a female voice asked

The pair looked up and saw Misato grinning like a Cheshire cat at the two teens.  Shinji blushed: he could act like that in front of Hikari when they were alone but with other people around it was really embarrassing and hard for him to get past a hug with her

"N, no; nothing at all" he stammered

"Oh but Shinji, I thought you were ready to rip my clothes off and make hot, steamy passionate love to me, right here" Hikari said, making the poor boy blush to such an extent that he was cherry red.

Misato and Hikari however were in stitches of laughter on the ground making Shinji want to become so incredibly small so he could escape their torture.  After checking him out of the hospital, Misato informed him that due to his father's work he was unable to stay with him but she had offered to let him stay with her.

[I'm not so sure that's a great idea] he was nervous because Misato, no matter how playful was still really flirtatious and it was kind of disturbing.

[If she cracks onto him badly,] Hikari was also thinking bad of the arrangements but was more plotting to kill Misato if she tried to seduce Shinji

"Okay, Hikari I'll drop you off at your sister's house after we go shopping, although you are welcome to attend the housewarming party at my place for Shinji" she said as they got into her car

"Well I'll ask Kodama first" she said, Misato nodded.

A few minutes later, they trio had gone shopping and were practically swimming in junk food and soft drink, but Misato had filled a good section of the boot with beer and were on their way to Kodama's house.  It was a nice place in the inner suburbs.  Kodama was a university professor and her boyfriend was a police officer, between them they made a good amount of money to live on.  Kodama and Kenji were on their way to an important function and asked Misato if Hikari could bunk at her place for the night

"Hi Shinji, long time no see" Kodama said and smiled; her sister had acquired a rather handsome young man for a boyfriend.

"Okay, no problem Ms. Horaki, I'll keep them out of trouble" Misato said as they sped off into the distance.

Kodama twitched "Maybe I should have stayed home with Hikari" she said quietly

********

Rei trudged home in the dark, wearing only a school uniform and a smile: Shinji had promised her he'd try teaching her Sha-Kai-Ken, starting tomorrow.  Ritsuko had dropped her pen and clipboard in shock as she saw the girl she knew as stoic and reserved smile so bright.

[I'll be able to pilot better now] she thought.

Rei was so wrapped up in her own world she didn't notice the dark stranger following her, nor the somewhat malicious glint in his eyes.  He was quick and Rei was only able to gurgle in shock before he clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Well hello girly, I wonder if you'll help me.  I need a little stress relief and my doctor recommended sex," he said, tracing his tongue over her ear.

Humans with Ki training have heightened senses, but Rei was well beyond Shinji's hearing range, but Trunks was closer and had better hearing.  He heard the gurgle and for lack of anything else to do while Goten went out clubbing, went to investigate.  Trunks was a warrior; but violence against females, especially young ones still disturbed him and made his blood boil in fury, so when he caught a glimpse of this, thing, with Rei, his control evaded him.

"Put her down scumbag" he said and floated to the ground, his voice colder than ice

"And if I don't, what then little man?" he asked and flicked out a knife and put it to Rei's throat, scaring the girl even more

"Then I'll come over there; grab her off you, put her down, go back and break every bone in your body and then I'll kill you" Trunks said in a matter of fact voice.

Trunks began powering up for effect.  He used his basic skills: this joker was a bar fighter, not a Ki warrior like him.  It stunned the would-be paedophile and rapist so much his grip went lose and Rei scrambled off

"Wha?" the man said

"Too late" Trunks said and blasted him: there was no body, not even ashes: it was as if Trunks erased him from existence.

Rei watched the young boy with interest [He seems powerful, maybe he could fight the commander and make a good sparring partner] she thought.

Trunks turned around and went to see if Rei was all right.  He realised now that she was the one with the weak Ki level.  Determined to find out, he pulled her out of the shadows and he stood for a brief second, mesmerised by her beauty: long legs, nice body, soft looking skin and smooth hair, and the red eyes made him remember his homeland

"It's okay, I won't hurt you" he said, "Are you injured?" Trunks enquired

"No.  I am scared, but not physically hurt," she said, trying to take in every detail of Trunks for further analysis in private.

"I see.  Where do you live?" he asked

Rei pointed to the building Trunks came out of "There, 4th floor" she answered.

Trunks escorted her to the front door and if he'd had his way, he'd have combed the apartment for any kind of undesirable bottom feeding pond scum.  Trunks also began to feel an odd sensation in his neck

[Must be a sore muscle] he fobbed it off and awaited Rei's answer to a question he posed earlier:

_"Why do you live here, its dank and unsanitary," he had asked_

"Because I would rather be alone in harms way than with my family in safety" she answered him before she bowed

"Thank for assisting me" she said plainly and closed the door.

Trunks walked all the way back to his apartment rubbing his neck.

********

Goten was having a great time; the club was lively and pulsing, and to boot: no booze.  Goten was a clubber but not a drinker, unless you counted Creaming Sodas which he drank like water.  He was sitting at the 'bar' having one of his favourite drinks when he spied a rather striking redhead with long hair and blue eyes

"There is a god," he said

He gauged her power level and was interested to find out that it was the 2nd most powerful in the country, so with a glint in his eye and a smirk on his lips, he sauntered over to her

"Well hello" he said in a deep voice

"What do you want?" she replied, her voice was Japanese with a hint of German and American

"Well I thought I'd start with your company, then maybe to take you onto that dance floor" he said and sipped his soda

The young girl turned an eye to him: Goten had an interesting face, filled with innocence and danger at the same time and his eyes were like two onyx globes with an opal hue

"You got a name boy?" she asked

"It's Goten, and you girly?" he responded

"Asuka, Asuka Langley Soryu.  I'm an Evangelion pilot," she said

[Ah ha, so this is her] he thought and began a conversation

"I saw a large purple robot fighting a large green thing.  Was that you?" he asked

"No, my Eva is red and was under repair at the time: that was Shinji.  He's the commander's son" she said, a look of fatigue on her face.

"Tired, I thought you needed a great deal of stamina to be an Eva pilot" he said

Asuka made a sarcastic laugh and drank her drink and looked at Goten

"Yes well I was kept up all night last night by a certain Captain and her boyfriend last night, they're very 'active', if you get my drift" Asuka griped

Goten and Asuka were in each other's company for the rest of the night before she had to go home.  Goten, being the kind and considerate lad that he was, offered to walk her home, a blushing Asuka accepted.  Asuka led Goten to the same apartment block that Shinji was in at the time

[Ah, so they live together eh, well, I'll just let him know in my own subtle way that she's off limits] he schemed

In the apartment: Misato, Shinji, Hikari, Kaji and the resident penguin all drank and ate merrily.  Asuka could hear them from the stairs as she swiped her card

"Care to venture into danger with me?" she asked Goten, he nodded

They entered and all Goten's fears eased: Shinji was in the process of hugging his girlfriend with a great deal of affection in his eyes, he noticed Asuka was slightly jealous, and in an unplanned move, put his arm around her waist

"Hi, Asuka!  Who's the hunk behind you?" the inebriated Captain asked

"I'm Goten" he answered and tightened his grip on Asuka

Meanwhile, Asuka was blushing so much that she didn't notice Shinji had gotten up and had introduced himself, Hikari did the same.

"Ms. Soryu, I'm Shinji, the other pilot," Shinji said, bowing a little

"Huh, oh, ah, yeah.  I'm Asuka.  And you are?" she asked, looking at Hikari

"I'm Hikari Horaki, Shinji's girlfriend.  Nice to meet you Asuka" Hikari said

[They seem friendly enough, we should get on] she thought; her fatigue was taking control.

"Well Asuka, I'll see you tomorrow.  Which school do you go to?" Goten asked

"HS 101, about five minutes walk that way" she answered and pointed east.

"Oh, so that's where it is.  My school too, see you there" he said and left

Goten made his way home quickly but Trunks was still awake

"Meet any young, sexy and willing women?" he asked

"Met one that was the former two, part 3 is just a matter of time.  Damn neck, must have pulled something," he muttered before going to sleep.

***********

Morning brought a sore and stiff awakening from almost everyone in the Katsuragi house: the three children in it began to get ready for school.  Shinji was already enrolled, and Kodama has enrolled Hikari a week ago before she came to Tokyo 3

"Here Hikari, you can borrow some of my clothes.  We're about the same measurements" Asuka said and threw a uniform Hikari's way

"Thanks" she replied and began to get dressed

Hikari had a change of underclothes of her own, sensibly declining Misato's offer of her more 'mature' lingerie until she could get home.  Shinji, being the only decent cook in the house threw together breakfast before he got dressed.  Misato offered to drive them but they said they'd rather walk.

On the other side of town: three other children also began preparations for school: Rei, Trunks and Goten.  Rei's breakfast was a bland meal of cereal in milk, and a piece of fruit.  Goten and Trunks ate a somewhat more substantial meal of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and orange juice all thanks to capsule technology and were pretty full completion of the meal.

"So we just go in and register?" Trunks asked

Goten nodded "Yep, that's it" he assured Trunks

[Not to mention that Asuka goes to this school] Goten kept this part to himself.

Unintentionally the boys met Rei on the way to school.  After a somewhat interesting introduction, they trudged on, all except Goten looking down.  Goten and Trunks made a beeline for the register when they arrived

"Hi, we'd like to enrol" Goten said

The secretary blinked "Here, fill these out and you're in" she said in disbelief

"Thank you" Trunks said and took the forms and a pen for each of them.

They boys quickly filled out the relevant details and fibbed about their parents: Trunks gave her back the forms.

"Okay, it seems you're with the celebrities: class 2-A, the Eva pilots" she said and sent them on their way.

Shinji, Hikari and Asuka were as board as anything when the class rep, Kaoru Nagisa announced the arrival of two new students

"Allow me to introduce: Trunks Briefs and Goten Son" the boy said, barely containing his laughter at Trunks's name.

The two kids in question walked into the room: Goten was all smiles but Trunks was exactly like his dad: silent, cold, and mean looking.

"Hi, I'm Goten" the younger Saiyen said and smiled

The entire girl's except Hikari swooned, but Goten was looking at Asuka, and the spare seat beside her.

"I'm Trunks," his voice sounded like an ice wind

"I see, Goten: take a seat beside Ms. Soryu, Trunks, you'll have to sit next Ms. Ayanami" Kaoru said.

Goten nearly bounced to the chair while Trunks walked slowly to the desk: he gave a small head bow to Rei, she returned the gesture before Trunks sat down: Goten watched this small exchange and smirked

[If I didn't know any better, I'd say he liked her] Goten mused

He turned his attention to the teacher and listened for about 3 seconds, but before long his gaze was rooted to Asuka.  It didn't leave her form until it was time for P.E.  The students filed out, joking and laughing, except the obvious two.  The teacher lined them up and asked a question

"Okay; who here uses Ki?" he scanned the kids: Asuka, Hikari, Shinji, Goten and Trunks stepped forward, so did Rei after some hesitation.

"Right, you lot can train a bit while the rest of you are divided: boys are doing basketball and girls are swimming; go" he said.

While the others went about their sports, Goten and Shinji, Hikari and Asuka and Rei and Trunks began to train.  Hikari and Asuka began by having a spar: Goten and Shinji were going to fly spar.  Rei was however unsure what to do because she knew Trunks was stronger than her with or without his Ki

"Do you want to learn how to fight?" he asked

"I wished to learn Sha-Kai-Ken from Ikari, but he cannot teach me.  My Ki is to low" she answered 

"I can teach you to increase your Ki" Trunks said

Rei blinked "That is impossible, it only increases with age" she said

Trunks grinned and raised his Ki to a level higher than Asuka, making everyone stop and look at him.

[Damn it Trunks, why chose now to show off] Goten griped as the bouts were stopped to check out the new development

Rei could scarcely believe it: scientists had been trying to discover how to raise Ki levels for years, and this young man her age had done it right in front of her, without even twitching.  It was at that time Rei thought maybe a fighter stronger than Gendo Ikari had emerged, and for some reason that frightened and comforted her at the same time.

"I can teach you to do this, if you're willing to learn" he said, a deadpan look on his face.

"I am willing," she said

"Very well.  Meet me in my apartment, room 7-A: I live in the same building as you do" he said and turned on his heel.  Rei did the same.

Asuka looked at Goten while Hikari followed Rei and Shinji followed Trunks; she was amazed that he used Ki at all, but to know one of its greatest secrets was something that she was unprepared for

"Can you, increase your Ki?" she asked: he nodded.

Asuka smiled her razor sharp smile "Teach me" she demanded

"What?" Goten was speechless

"Teach me to raise my Ki, or I'll fight you until you agree" she said

[This girl was definitely a Saiyen in a past life; she's got the attitude, the smirk and the power] Goten observed

"Okay, deal" he said and sat down in the sun.

************

Shinji caught up with Trunks

"What the hell was that?" he asked

"What are you talking about, human?" Trunks snarled

"How can you teach Rei to raise her Ki, she has a problem that inhibits its growth" Shinji blasted 

"You are such an arrogant race: there are those who have dedicated their very existence to learning the sacred martial arts of Ki manipulation" Trunks spoke in a high and mighty voice

"But, I thought raising it was impossible" Shinji said, dumbfounded

"Yet you sensed me raise it, to be stronger than all three of you" Trunks retorted, absently he rubbed his neck

**********

Hikari went and found Rei: she was sitting against a wall staring out at the city: they city she defended for a living, the city which owed her an unpayable debt and the city in which she was weakest.

"Rei, you okay?" Hikari asked

"Yes" she answered [Is it possible, can I become stronger?] Rei wondered

"You gave us a scare, Trunks didn't hurt you did he?" Hikari asked

Rei shook her head and continued to stare forward and in an unconscious move; Rei reached up and rubbed her neck.  Hikari sat down beside Rei and looked at with concern.

"Rei, I want to be your friend, even if we only meet here in school.  And as a friend, I'm giving some advice: don't take things at face value" she said

Rei looked at Hikari with some contempt

"I do not believe that Mr. Briefs would lie, nor would he ever hurt me" she bit back and explained her first encounter with him

Hikari was speechless and not to mention scared of Trunks: people with his kind of power were often seen as very noble, and Trunks seemed that way, but was he friend or foe?

"Okay, well I can't stop you from trusting him, just be careful, okay?" Hikari asked

Rei nodded, if only just to get Hikari to leave her alone.  She rubbed her neck again

[I must ask Ritsuko to give me a pain killer] she decided.

************

Hikari was running as fast she could to find Shinji; she had to speak to him before the boy did anything rash, like challenging Trunks to a fight.

"Don't be a fool Shinji; graveyards are full of fools; and heroes" she said, reflecting on her boyfriend's new position as a hero.

She found Shinji simply chatting with Goten and Asuka in a friendly manner under a tree: Trunks was nowhere to be seen.  Sighing with relief, Hikari sat down and tried to pick up on the conversation, which soon became obvious to her.

"You can't be serious Goten!" Asuka cried out

"Why not; it seems like a reasonable assumption to me, I do know him best after all" he said in defence of his argument

"No way, those two are, no offence, colder than the artic in winter at night.  In fact, it would probably take conditions like that to get them close enough to kiss" Shinji said

"I am assuming we're talking about Trunks and Rei here" Hikari said, groaning.

"Yep, Goten here seems to think that Trunks and Rei are made for each other" Asuka chuckled while she pointed at Goten.

"Well, I still think you're mad Goten; I don't think Trunks offering to train Rei is an 'I-love-you-lets-fuck' invitation type thing" Shinji maintained his position that the relationship was impossible

Hikari on the other hand, wasn't so sure that Shinji and Asuka were right, maybe Goten was.  She pondered it in class for the rest of the day.

*******

Goten was going to Asuka's house, Shinji and Hikari were going to a movie so that left Rei and Trunks

"Why don't you train her tonight, you're only teaching her to increase her Ki level after all" Goten said, no small amount of slyness in his voice

[Back off.  Ah, this damn neck pain] Trunks griped

"I may just do that, Goten" he replied to his more cheery friend.

The group parted ways at a T-junction: Shinji and Hikari off to the Cineplex, Asuka and Goten off to Asuka's house and Rei and Trunks on their way back to the small cruddy apartment block they called home.  After a silent trip back to the apartment block, Trunks spoke

"If you wish, the training can begin.  But only the basics" he said

"That would be very…nice" Rei paused to find an appropriate word to complete the sentence.

"Dress in an appropriate Gi, allow for plenty of movement and one that stays on the body, little flapping" he instructed before leaving.

Rei simply nodded her head and went into her own apartment to get ready while Trunks walked up to prepare his apartment for use as a makeshift dojo.  He sighed as he entered and cleared away most of the stuff: the mattresses on the ground, a small table and some sitting cushions: his and Goten's clothes were all in capsules, so they were easily hidden.

[Why am I training her, she has such little Ki that even with the ability to raise it higher most young children would defeat her, so why?] Trunks lamented his decision to train Rei, but not totally.

Trunks had spent as much time as he possibly could, sensing the girl, anytime an old childhood nightmare came, he somehow searched out this Ki signal, and for reasons he did not understand; it brought him comfort.  He also began to feel sorry for her because she, Asuka and Shinji were expected to save the world from aliens.  He also had a nagging thought that the Angels and Buu were connected and that somehow, his arrival would spell death for at least one of the pilots, he just wasn't sure whom.  His thoughts were disrupted by a quiet knocking on the door; shaking his head, Trunks answered it.

"I am ready Mr. Briefs" Rei said as she stepped inside the now prepared dojo.

Trunks scrutinised the Gi; a pair of soft-soled training boots, dark purple pants, vest and top.  The top was a long sleeved t-shirt and the vest covered it, showing only the black sleeves of the top.  A gold dragon graced the leg of the pants, the head at the bottom and the tail curled up on the thigh.  Trunks briefly envisioned his tail there, but shook the thought almost as soon as it came.

"The Gi is very well designed.  I approve" he said and beckoned her to sit on the mat, knees crossed.

Rei sat as he asked her to.  Trunks soon copied the gesture and sat facing Rei: he hadn't noticed the red tie around her head.  He shrugged and began a verbal instruction

"Okay, you follow my movements to the best of your abilities and under no circumstances are you to question what I say or ask of you.  Understand?" he asked

Rei nodded curtly to signify her willingness to learn whatever Trunks could teach her

"Good.  We begin, now" he said

***********

Goten and Asuka were watching a video in the lounge room of the Katsuragi apartment; the pair were on the couch and laughing at the hysterical antics of the crew on screen

"That Bobo is a crack" Goten chortled

"Pauly and Sleek too" Asuka agreed as the two pizza boys in the show were thrown out of the club after Pauly called them narcissistic wankers for dancing with no shirts on.

"Where did you get this stuff Asuka?  Its classic" Goten gasped as the ending credits rolled

"I've had them for years: I saw the show on re-runs in America when I was younger.  I loved it and went out and grabbed it as soon as possible" she said and placed the video in its case again.

Misato watched from her vantage point at the kitchen table and giggled: Asuka didn't warm to strangers, yet this Goten kid had managed to pick her up in club, talk her into letting him taking her home and then, come over and watch TV with her.

[She's either on drugs or in love.  Either is going to cause a problem] she thought and looked sad.

Misato hated to burst the young girl's bubble but her emotional involvement in others was dangerous in her position and Misato didn't want Asuka to get hurt, in any way if she could help it.  For now though, Misato was content to watch Asuka seem to have a normal relationship with the young man.  Misato pondered Goten; he seemed really nice, in fact she was sure that he had looped his arm around Asuka last night when she came home so she didn't feel left out among the group.  Misato at first as she would any boy, questioned his motives with Asuka, but he had a great naivety and was genuinely sweet, like a big puppy.

"Okay, Goten, what next?" Asuka asked

Goten allowed a sly grin to cross his face and for a brief second, Misato though he was going to say 'sex', but

"VIDEO GAMES" he cried out loudly, making Asuka and Misato laugh

"Okay, I'll break out the Playstation 2" Asuka replied and went to her room to get it.

And so the evening went on, they played games, watched movies and did homework; all the while each wanted to badly get a neck massage because they both had somehow strained a muscle in them.

*********

Rei felt like she was on top of the world: she had seen some amazing things in her life, but watching Trunks raise his Ki level with a physical field was spectacular: the pair were in a clearing almost 100 miles out of Tokyo 3, to avoid any kind of interruption.  Right now Trunks was demonstrating an attack his father had taught him: Gallic Cannon

"You build the energy up in the arms first, and then as you would a ball, throw it forward" he said and fired a small one at a large boulder.

"Okay" she replied

Rei then attempted to copy the move, she had moderate success and was able to do about a third of the damage Trunks had done.  He had taught her to raise her Ki, and she was actually not as weak as Trunks first thought, she was nearly up to Hikari's level

[I am impressed, but I have this feeling that there is a hidden talent lying in there.  All I need to do is bring it forward] he thought

The training continued for many more hours and it was nearly midnight before they stopped, but before they went back, Trunks felt he had to reveal some of his power to Rei, if only to show her he was capable of teaching her everything.

"Rei, wait.  There is something I should show you: if I am to be your teacher, you must trust me.  And trust is impossible when secrets are kept.  So I am going to show you my most special ability.  Not my full power, for that will be revealed in due course," he explained at length

Rei simply nodded and sat down, obviously awaiting Trunks's demonstration.  Trunks took up a crouching position and began to power up, very strongly.  Rei was almost afraid: a power of this magnitude was uncharted and long thought to be impossible, but here was someone her age putting out enough power to run the whole of Japan for at least a week.  Then Rei observed an odd occurrence: Trunks's hair was starting to flash yellow, and his eyes had changed to green.

[What?] Rei thought

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Trunks let out a blood-curdling scream as he was enveloped by light and flash of bright yellow was seen.

Rei had to shield her eyes from the brightness and nearly gasped at the level of power Trunks now had.  When she opened her eyes, it was like she was in a dream or a fantasy world: his bright golden hair flowed like fire on top of his head and his now green eyes were as hard as tempered steel.  A low hum could be heard from the field around Trunks's body

"That's, amazing" she said and reached over to touch the field

"It's very hot, I wouldn't recommend touching it" Trunks warned her before an injury was incurred

Rei retracted her hand but was still mesmerised by what Trunks had done

[How did he do that?], she wondered

Trunks powered down his field but his power level was still up and beyond anything the Earth had ever seen.  Trunks now allowed Rei to approach him.  She ran her hand over his hair; it was the part that interested her the most.  It was hard but flexible and smoother than silk.  Rei examined Trunks's eyes: inside them sat a deep-rooted pain that was buried beneath his barriers of strength and power: but she had a feeling that if the right person tried to get past them: they would.

*********

Goten was making his way slowly home after playing enough rounds on Tekken to make him blanch at even the thought of training Asuka, but he promised he'd teach her

"What did I get myself into?" he wondered and climbed the steps to the apartment

He smiled at what he saw when he came in: Trunks was asleep on his futon and Goten had sensed that he was powered up to Super Saiyen 1 a few minutes ago and he was curious to know why.  He decided to wait until morning to interrogate his friend though and lay down to sleep.

*************

The next morning Trunks woke up early and walked out onto the balcony of the apartment.  Whilst he gazed out over the city, Trunks reflected on the task he and Goten had been given: to destroy Majin Buu and defend the Earth from attacks of his nature.  Trunks wasn't happy with the assignment: he hated this planet because he lived on an alternate one and humans had been nothing but cruel to his family and friends of Saiyen heritage and he didn't believe that humans were worth saving.  So far, nothing bar their perseverance had begun to change that solid opinion.

He and Goten did the usual beginning to the day with a big meal in silence and left the apartment for school.  As yesterday they met Rei, then Shinji, Hikari and Asuka for the walk.  Asuka and Goten were with Shinji and Hikari discussing the current vibe they could all sense between their stoic friends who walked a few feet behind them

"There is a definite vibe there.  All it needs a bit of tweaking and voila" Goten said, Hikari was the only one who still believed him

Asuka and Shinji didn't believe him at all

"Bull" Asuka said and patted Goten's shoulder

"Asuka.  I know Trunks very well; there is a small light in his eyes again, I haven't seen it in a long time" he replied as they entered the school gate

Trunks saw a large gathering of students around what he assumed was a Ki battle: the seniors were fighting.  Asuka shook her head and grumbled about the seniors always showing off even though she could beat them.

"Hey, check it out Toji, there's Rei" the boy with brown hair spoke to his friend with the black hair.

The boy Toji was one of the seniors, cast his eye on Rei and almost instantly Trunks hated him with passion: Toji was a foot taller than he was but had nowhere near the muscle or the power, but still carried himself with confidence.  He ignored her however

"So what?  For all I care the bitch can die, she turned me down, and nobody, turns down Toji Suzaharra," he spat in a cruel voice

When Trunks saw Rei visibly flinch at the older boy's voice, he growled like a beast, really loudly and was ready to go over and drop him like a sack of hammers, but Rei put her hand on his shoulder and told him not to.  Goten was becoming more convinced by the second of what was happening to Trunks

[The SoB is bonding with her, slowly, but bonding none the less] he observed

Trunks just threw snarls and hatful looks at Toji.  When he was snarling, Toji caught a glimpse of Trunks's fangs

Fangs on Saiyens are not dissimilar to vampire fangs but are shorter and less pointy.  However any similarities end at shape and position in the mouth, for instead of taking, Saiyen fangs inject a special enzyme into the blood that is coded to allow a mental link between the two people.  If a non-Saiyen bites a Saiyen, then the Saiyen blood takes a sample of the saliva on the teeth and creates an enzyme for them, completing the bond: this is how Saiyens know that they're in love, their neck starts to ache when they're around a certain person.

***************

Once that was settled, Trunks and the others continued on their way to class; Goten was just looking at Shinji and Asuka while grinning an 'I told you so' grin.  They ignored him.

Class was going smoothly, but then a siren began wailing

"What?" Goten looked confused

"Its the alert siren: an Angel is here" Rei said, looking out over the horizon trying to spot it

"Well, come on Shinji; Rei.  We got work to do" Asuka had that grin again

"Bye Hikari" Shinji said and kissed her forehead before leaving

"I see you later Asuka, darling" Goten teased: Asuka playfully punched him as she left, Shinji in tow

Hikari and Goten left, knowing that if anything was going to happen between the remaining two, privacy was needed.  They tiptoed out, giggling like little toddlers.

"This is kind of, awkward" Trunks said, making a nervous face

Rei just stared blankly at him; it had occurred to her that Trunks cared: because he showed her something that was obviously very precious to him and a big part of his hidden nature because that kind of ability was, as far as she knew, totally unknown in history, but she saw it, heard it, and touched it therefore it was real

"I know.  I have never been good at this kind of interaction," she confessed

"Well, I'll be blunt.  Come back, everyone has a life worth living.  Especially you, you're saving the world." Trunks said

Before Rei could protest, Trunks gave Rei a small hug; nothing crushing or overly intimate, but a hug that you give a person you care for in any shape or form.  He smiled and left after releasing her, something she'd never seen him do.  Rei was totally mesmerised by the action: she pondered it there, as she ran to Nerv, got changed and even pondered it to the point before she broke surface in Eva 00; ready to engage in combat.

Hikari, like most people went to the shelters, but Goten and Trunks went and hid in the mountains near the battlefield: they were going to wait and watch this little adventure.  The hill they chose was almost a kilometre from the Angel itself, but the pair guessed it could transverse that distance no problem: the Angel was shellfish like, with two small arms flanking its head with a red dome like the last one, in its chest area.  Trunks guessed that was the weak spot.

[All they have to do is rupture that dome, and boom, bye, bye birdie] Trunks reasoned

Goten had much the same thoughts but he wanted a better fight than last time from the Evangelion, he was also looking forward to seeing the other Evangelions as well, especially Asuka's

[It's going to be red] he thought

************

Indeed Goten was right: Asuka's Eva was red.  Trunks disregarded Shinji's and looked for Rei's, searching for her Ki.  He soon saw among some trees a giant blue object

[Bingo] he thought and began to scan the Angel

He couldn't sense any Ki from them at all which meant either they had none, or were suppressing it really well.

The battle raged, each Eva used various weapons to try and halt the advance of the creature, but it soon became obvious that hand to hand combat was the only way to go, so they all ditched the rifles and cannons for knives and spears and began to attack it head on.  Shinji used a spear and stuck the creature in the side.  Seeing his plan, Asuka did the same

{Rei, use one of the rifles, the A.T. Field is down!} Shinji yelled over the radio

Before Rei could act however, the small arms on the Angel grew long whips that glowed with energy and used them to stab Rei through each shoulder

"HEY!" before Goten could stop him, Trunks shot towards the Angel

All Shinji and Asuka saw was a golden streak hit the Angel and begin to drag it upwards and out of their hands in seconds and with ease: a steady power level was also raising like a wave at sea

"GET BACK" a voice screamed

*************

The power was so great that all the cameras in the area went off line, making it a black out for Nerv personnel: except one man.  Gendo Ikari, he was able to sense Ki and right now he was pondering the sheer volume of power that he could sense from outside

[Such a power has been thought impossible, but this is the second time I have sensed this one.  Who does it belong to?  That is the question] he thought.

*************

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGG" Trunks was making a great deal of noise and light as he powered up his ultimate attack: Burning Attack.

Shinji and Asuka were struggling to stop from being blown off the ground and listened to what was going on.  Soon the light stopped but the Angel did not, it was going to fast, Trunks put his hands forward

"EAT THIS" he screamed "BURNING ATTACK" he fired

The energy wave hit the Angel, sending it higher into the air, Shinji and Asuka let go of their spears: the Angel went a few feet higher and then the wave exploded: there was nothing left of the Angel

Trunks saw his work there was done and zipped down to Rei's Eva: a white tube was poking out of the neck, he could tell it was hot but he grabbed the metal and yanked the whole door plus some wall off as well, Rei was out cold.  He reached over to her and shook her gently

"Rei, wake up!" Trunks cried out desperately.

The girl responded by opening her eyes and groaning as she sat up, blinking with surprise as she saw the ruined plug around her, more precisely to the side where the door once was

"Trunks?" she said softly, his hair was still gold, and he had used a great deal of energy but was still in the transformed state

"You're, okay" he breathed and collapsed, his hair going lavender again before he even hit the ground.


	2. We're Bonding

The last thing Trunks remembered after yelling out his ultimate attack then launching it was hitting the ground, pretty hard.  Hard, if hitting the ground counted as hard then by his own estimates he should have been nearly exhausted from the strain he had put out.  He tried to get up but a soft hand stopped him

"You should rest, you exerted a great deal of energy", that voice was unmistakeable: Rei

"Rei, where am I?" he asked, trying to adjust his vision

"You're in my apartment: Goten helped bring you here from the battlefield before my rescue team arrived" she explained

"How long have I been asleep?" Trunks was able to see the ceiling as he asked this

"At least 17 hours" Rei replied, she pressed a cold damp rag to Trunks's head, as Goten had instructed her.

Trunks was still tired, and he fell back asleep rather quickly.  Rei watched him: she had no doubt the commander sensed his power level during the battle and she was wondering what he would do about Trunks, and she now had her suspicions about Goten being just as strong.  She felt it in her soul however that Trunks was stronger, and could still raise in power.  A knock at the door made her reverie break: grumbling, she answered it: it was Shinji, Hikari, Goten and Asuka

"Hi, we came to visit your friend" Hikari said.

Rei nodded and allowed them in, Trunks was on the small bed he had with him ion his apartment so Rei wasn't on the floor.  His skin was a bit paler than any of them remembered it being but otherwise he looked fine.  Shinji however saw something that, if Goten hadn't been on the quick for, would have let the proverbial cat out of the bag

"What the hell is that brown furry thing?" he asked, pointing to Trunks's unfurled brown Saiyen tail

"Fur belt" Goten lied, but Rei shot him a piercing glance; she knew

"Okay, well, we'll be going now.  Call us when Trunks wakes up" Shinji said

"Goten, stay here, I wish to ask you something" Rei said, before the not so wily Saiyen could escape

"Okay" he stuttered

As soon as everyone had left, Rei fixed Goten with another piercing stare, one that was very reminiscent of his mother, so much so that it scared him

"Why does Trunks have a tail?" she asked in a quiet voice, Goten could sense the notes of betrayal under it

"Well, it's part of who we are" he said meekly

"I see.  Trunks showed me something, he transformed.  He was in the same state when he tore my plug open.  How do you do that?" Rei was getting angrier, although the casual observer wouldn't see it

Goten was in between the devil and the deep blue sea, but he couldn't lie, not to the other saviours of the planet.

"Okay then, get comfortable.  This is a long story" Goten said and sat down.  Rei did likewise on her bed.

**********

2 hours later

**********

Rei lay on her bed pondering all the information Goten had given her, some of it fascinating and some of it terrible, like the bloody history of the Saiyen race as galactic pirates and plunderers.  However, se did not judge Goten and Trunks by these standards, if she did then it would be hypocritical because humans had done the same to each other many years ago, some still did it.  Also, Goten mentioned that he and Trunks were the last remnants of the race, just them.

[What must it be like, to see what they have seen, be where they have been and do what they have done?] Rei wondered

She was looking at the still unconscious form of Trunks on the small futon bed on the floor, he was only as old as she was, yet he had seen terrible things, things she even could not hold a candle to, in all her nights in Terminal Dogma in the experiments the commander had her half sister run on her, these seemed pale in comparison to what these two boys had seen, and done.  Goten had stressed that they were no Angels (in both senses of the word), and had had to commit terrible acts to win against evil, never anything cruel, but it weighed on their consciences all the time

"What pain lies in the minds of those who fight?" she wondered over to Trunks as she spoke.

Rei had never 'looked' at Trunks; she knew what he looked like and like herself, his hair made him stand out in a crowd, but to look closely at his face, she could see lines of worry, sadness and pain, small scars and other things.  Rei was going to get back into bed, when she noticed tears start to slip from Trunks's eyes

"What?" she was surprised

Rei knelt back down and looked closely at them: she had never seen tears before.  She watched the small droplets of water slide down his face.  Then, out of pure curiosity she reached out and caught one with her finger.  Rei held close to her face and studied the droplet: it seemed no different from any other drop of water; she held it under her nose, no smell and in a move she herself did not understand, she tasted it.  It had slightly salty taste to it, like seawater.  Before she could leave for bed, one more thing made her blink in surprise

"M, mother" Trunks was speaking in his sleep

This was really surprising and it occurred to Rei that the only details left out by Goten were the ones regarding their families, but she was very closed up about her own family, so she wasn't going to press either of them for those details.

************

Trunks woke up with a pounding headache and a great deal of disorientation

[Was I out on the piss?], he wondered, this thought was soon washed away as the memories came back piece-by-piece

"Now I know how Jason Bourne felt.  Ooh, pain in ribs, pain in ribs" he muttered as he tried to get up.

This time he was a great deal more successful than he was the day before and was on his feet after a few tentative tries.  His stomach rumbled loudly

"Food, I need food", he said in a zombie-like voice

Trunks scanned the building: he was alone.  He checked Rei's wall clock: it read 10:30

"Well, I can go home, shower, get dressed, eat and go to school or not go to school and clean this place up" he wasn't fond of dirty places, but he wasn't dumb enough to tell that to Rei

Trunks went upstairs, his plan of action decided.  After showering, grabbing half a Senzu Bean to fix his ribs, dressing and eating, Trunks headed back to Rei's with full intent to clean the place of his mess, if any.  The apartment was a dump: dirty, dusty and cramped

"How she has stayed sane in this place is a feat I wish I could achieve" he muttered and set about removing any of his clothes and property.

First the bed: then his dirty linin from her wash basket.  Eventually Trunks came across a pillowcase, it looked like his so he just grabbed it and threw it in the bag he had with him and left the apartment.  When that was done, Trunks gave the apartment a once over, a few cloth strokes and a sweep here and there and it looked fine.

"Well, that should clear my debt" he decided and went home

He checked the clock again: it was only 11:30

"Oh well, a few hours of school won't hurt" he decided and left the building

*************

Goten was board as all hell: this old coot of a teacher was rambling on and on and on about 2nd Impact: he knew what happened; he'd watched it from Kaishin.

[Can't this old goat talk about anything interesting?], he pleaded with the gods, in fact he was sure he could hear North Kai and Shin laughing at him

Asuka was watching Goten, she was going to confront him about what happened on the battlefield the other day: she knew he had something to do with it.  Asuka was going to ask Rei, but something made her hold back; in all truth she didn't like Rei a great deal, there was respect, but not friendship.  However, if her feeling on who destroyed the Angel was right, she wasn't going to broadcast her feelings.

"Sorry I'm late" a familiar voice flew into the room

"That's okay, Ms. Ayanami explained you absences to me, take a seat," the old teacher said

Trunks made his way to his seat and sat down.  He opened his laptop and typed a message to Rei

\Thank you, for helping me\ it said

Rei wrote on in response

\Thank you for saving me\

Trunks left it at that and lay his head down.  Rei on the other hand was looking outside at the sky, reflecting on her words

[Thank you] she thought

She had never thanked anyone for anything, no one at all.  Rei was understandably confused as to why then, did she thank Trunks: if anything she should be afraid of him: he was an alien, a very powerful one with a great deal of fighting skill, but she wasn't afraid of him and maybe it was because she had seen his vulnerable side, if not this child side when he asked for his mother, but in truth she had no idea why he didn't scare her, because he really scared everyone else.

*************

When they were dismissed for lunch, Trunks grabbed Goten and asked to speak with him in private

"How much did you tell her?" he asked

"It took two hours, so quite a lot, the only reason we got busted was because you went off half cock and blew that Angel up, okay.  We have been rumbled Trunks, but only by them.  No one but them know" he explained

"Why are you so tetchy?" Trunks asked

Goten grumbled "Well Rei wasn't the only one to guess what was going down, I had to explain it to Asuka, Hikari and Shinji" he griped

Trunks nearly collapsed with laughter: that kind of speech would no doubt create a few questions for the lecturer.

"Okay, cool" Trunks said and began to walk away

"Bye the way; how is everything on the Rei front?" Goten asked, watching for a reaction, any reaction.

He got one all right: Trunks stopped moving and began to sort of sway on his feet, Goten could also feel a strange kind of energy being emitted from his friend, not good or bad, just different from the usual he gave out.

"Ah ha, I see the process is going along well" he commented and watched as Trunks rubbed a spot on his neck.

[Wait a second…] Goten realised that he'd been doing that around Asuka a great deal, and Trunks had done that with Rei around

"Well I'll be a blue assed monkey" he realised that Trunks wasn't the only one bonding with a mate, he was too.

[This could really complicate matters] he thought.


	3. The Party

The day went as many others had, boring with the Eva pilots and the Saiyens training during the PE classes.  Goten spent a great deal of time watching his friend's face, it was a very amusing subject to see him scowl and growl at people that looked at Rei sideways and even to see him nearly power up to Super Saiyen when one of the older boy's slapped her butt: Trunks's face had been absolutely priceless.

At the end of a day like this, all anyone wanted to do was relax and since it was Friday, they all intended to do exactly that.  Even Rei had her own special way of relaxing, damned if anyone else knew what it was though.  Before they reached home, Trunks grabbed Goten aside to speak to him

"I think we should leave the city for a few weeks" he said

"Why?" Goten asked, clearly confused

"Because I believe our presence here is now dangerous and puts our friends-"

Goten cut him off "Our mates as well" he said

"…In danger" Trunks finished, doing his best to ignore Goten's suggestion

"I don't think its that big of a deal, I mean what are they going to do, kill us?" Goten wasn't convinced

****************

Deep inside Nerv, in a room were access and knowledge of was restricted to three people in the whole of Nerv, 14 black monoliths floated around a man at a desk; that man was Gendo Ikari: he was being interrogated

"Ikari, who is the owner of the large power level we felt yesterday at the site of the Angel battle?" the oldest member of Seele, Keel Lorenz demanded

"I honestly don't know.  I felt it as well and I am impressed.  Anyone who can amass that amount of power would make a valuable ally," Gendo said

"Or a powerful and dangerous adversary.  Be realistic Gendo, anyone with this power won't bow to you" Keel taunted the commander but it was no rival's jibe: it was plain fact.

"Everyone has a weakness Keel, all I must do is find this person's and exploit it" Gendo retorted.

Keel remained silent after that.

*******************

Ritsuko was in her lab examining a piece of the Evangelion armour that had been struck by the energy from the mystery fighter; there was also a sample of blood from the metal on Rei's entry plug from who ever ripped it to pieces getting her out

[Whoever this guy is, he is amazingly strong] she thought and ran the test on the blood

NO MATCH FOUND flashed in front of her eyes, then a second message appeared: 

HUMAN CELLS:                    50% CONSISTANCY DETECTED

UNIDENTIFIED:                    50% CONSISTANCY DETECTED

"What the hell?" Ritsuko swore aloud and asked the computer to cross-reference the other cells with the sample taken from what was left of the 3rd Angel

NO MATCH

"Well I'll be goddamned, more aliens, but friend or foe?" she wondered and called Misato, as the caretaker of two of the three children, she needed know about this.

"Misato, it's Ritsuko.  Yeah I need you to come down to Gen-Lab 3, I have something here you should know about" she said to her friend

/Okay/ she replied

Ritsuko ran one final test on the blood.  She asked the computer to isolate the human cells and try and give an approximate age for the subject via those cells.  The result was surprising:

POSSIBLE AGE: 15 TO 16 YEARS

"This makes the pilot's safety even more paramount: the could be mixing with them at school" Ritsuko said to herself as Misato came in

"What is it?" she asked the scientist

"It seems our mystery fighter isn't an Angel, that's good news I suppose.  The bad news is we don't know what the other half of him is," Ritsuko said

"Half?" Misato was confused

"Whoever it is, is half human, the other half is unknown.  And get this: using an isolated scan to human cells, the computer has determined that our visitor is between the ages of 15 and 16" Ritsuko lit up a cigarette and took a puff

"No shit?" Misato asked

"No shit" Ritsuko answered

Misato was starting to put a few puzzle pieces together: two new teenagers appear at Asuka and Shinji's school, another alien or even aliens arrive on Earth and massive power levels are popping up.  She also remembered that Hikari told her that when the 4th Angel attacked, Trunks and Goten didn't appear in their designated shelter.  While it was possible they went to another one by mistake, Misato doubted it: Goten was naïve not dumb, and from what Shinji told her: Trunks was sharper than a samurai sword.

[These coincidences are too close together and too closely related on a too many levels not to have some truth to them] she thought.

"Thanks Ritsuko: listen, I know Rei is a solitary person, but I think it would be in her best interest to move in with me or you until we find these 'visitors', agreed?" Misato asked

"Yeah, I think you're right this time Misato" her friend said and returned to her work

"Oh and don't forget, the commander let me use one of the conference rooms for my birthday party tonight, Maya and I are decorating the room after I've done these tests.  Bring the pilots, maybe a party can loosen even Rei up", she added

"Oh cool.  I'll take care of drinks", the beer-loving Captain said.

Ritsuko groaned as she thought how drunk her friend could get and even the extra expense of non-alcoholic drinks for the kids and non-drinking staff.  Misato walked out of the lab with the full intent of getting information out of Goten or Trunks, or if she could swing it, Rei

"Wait, what does she mean 'this time'?" Misato realised that Ritsuko had ripped her and she hadn't even noticed

"Never mind, I need to talk with Asuka and Shinji first" she decided and made her way to the Nerv car park to go and see them since they were at home at the moment

*******************

Rei sat in her room listening to a small Discman with classical music on the CD; right now she was listening to 'Moonlight Sonata' and contemplating the party her sister had invited her to at Nerv: it was a birthday party.  Party, that meant lots of noise and light and people.  Three things that she wasn't overly fond of, but Rei respected, even liked her sister so she would go, but it didn't mean she would enjoy herself.  Upon another examination of the invite, it said that the invite was plus 1 guest, and dress formal but comfortable

[It doesn't say I have to bring someone else, just that I can] she reasoned

But that didn't sway her mind's overall decision; if she was going to this party, she may as well have someone who she could talk with without being awkward.  That was an easier part of the two other points: the dress would be a little more difficult but it could be done.

Sighing, Rei got up and went to her wardrobe and found a white dress that her mother had given her a long time ago: plain white, nothing on it, no patterns or anything like that, just clean, plain white.  The dress did however come with a piece of jewellery: a ruby pendant on a gold chain, also her mother's.  A pair of black shoes she had for school would suffice for footwear.  Now she tackled the other part of her problem

"Trunks probably dislikes parties as much as I do, but it cannot do harm to ask him" she reasoned.

As she walked up the stairs, that pain in her neck came back again: the cause of which was still a mystery in itself.  Rei rubbed the sore area of her neck really hard: that was the only way it would subside.  When Rei reached the door the pain went away, shrugging her shoulders she knocked on the door, only softly but she knew Trunks could hear it.  It took only a second for the young Saiyen to reach the door and open it

[What?  I thought she'd be avoiding me like bubonic plague after what Goten told her] Trunks was surprised

"Trunks, I have to ask your assistance" Rei began

"Why don't you come in?" Trunks asked

Rei saw no good reason to refuse the request and nodded; Trunks stepped back and allowed Rei entry.  Looking around, Rei noticed that despite similar sizes, Trunks and Goten's apartment was nicer than hers.  To her however it was irrelevant, she sat on a cushion.  Trunks did the same, facing her.

"I have been invited to a party, my step sister's birthday party" she explained a bit more

"Okay" Trunks gently prompted her on

"The invitation has got 'plus 1' written on it, and it would help me a great deal if, you accompanied me" Rei used up a great deal of courage to say that

[Parties make me uncomfortable] she thought again

[Well, this certainly isn't what I expected] Trunks thought

"Okay, if it'll make you feel more comfortable at the party" he agreed

[How did he know I was uncomfortable at parties?] Rei wondered

"Is the type of dress a concern?" Trunks asked

"Yes, casual yet formal, is what it says" Rei answered and got up

Rei turned to go, walking slower than she seemed to want to go; she felt a reluctance to leave.  Years of her seclusion however enabled her to fight the urge to stay, down

"Goodbye Trunks" she said and walked back home

Trunks stood totally stunned for almost a full ten minutes

"Okay" he was still rather shocked

*****************

Shinji was in his room, contemplating: he had seen a power of heaven and it was a force to be reckoned with.  So if these two were here, why were they putting their lives on the line to fight the Angels when powers like that were present to fight?

[Why, Goten said another group of aliens sent them to fight, ah, um, Buu] he paused to look at the picture of Hikari he had

[So why can't they engage the Angels too, I mean, Trunks minced the last one so bad there wasn't anything left of it] Shinji lamented

These thoughts eventually led to Shinji questioning his own reasons to pilot Eva, was is it to prove to Hikari that he was strong, to prove to his father that he was a warrior deserving of his respect or to the world that he was no ordinary boy?  Shinji sighed; it bothered him that he wasn't as strong as he could be.  Goten's training was making him stronger than he ever thought he could be but it felt as if it still wasn't good enough

****************

Hikari lay on her bed as her sister fussed over her impending date with Shinji at the Nerv party.  Although Hikari has assured Kodama that it was a birthday party for one of the staff, and that no one of any great importance was going to be there, her sister had still insisted on Hikari looking her best.  Kodama was searching for some nice perfume and maybe a family piece of jewellery to go with it.

"Oh come on Hikari, you like Shinji right, let's at least make an effort to make you look good" Kodama said

"Kodama, I like Shinji a great deal and I'm sure he will look good, but I am going to a birthday party not a diplomatic function!" Hikari cried out

Kodama only grinned

"Who said anything about a diplomatic function, I want to make sure that you and Shinji look so good together, that Asuka will be jealous" Kodama never really got on with Asuka

Hikari just sighed and tried to drown out her sister's silly ranting while she lamented on the fact that Shinji was trying time and again to prove he loved her and that he was worth something.  It drove her nuts but she didn't have the heart to tell him that he didn't need to do it.

[Oh the complications of being in love] Hikari said to herself.

****************

Asuka on the other hand wasn't having such thoughts, but she was seriously questioning her relationship with Goten since the revealing of his origins to her.  Could she love an alien that for all she knew was descended from the very creatures that were trying ton invade her planet and destroy her fellow man?  She was so confused about everything

"Goten looks human enough, and the tail is rather cute" she said in an hopes of convincing herself that she could have some kind of intimate relationship with him

However he who deludes others is only blinding himself and Asuka knew it: until it was proven to her that Goten was no relation to the Angels or that he was not going to transform into something horrible and scaly every night, all bets were off.  Asuka groaned and got up to get ready for Ritsuko's party, which promised to be something interesting: she had heard that Rei was coming and she was bringing someone with her.  Despite Asuka knowing instantly who it was, it would be interesting to see them interact with each other in this kind of situation.

"Let's see; the red dress with tie straps, a black neckband and red shoes.  That should do it" she mumbled and went for a shower, still wondering if she and Goten could be

*********************

Misato was a different story: she was easily quite happy: she was good at her job and her boyfriend, one Ryouji Kaji was also very good at his, they made plenty of money and they were getting married at the end of the Angel War.  However Misato was human and she worried about the two children in her care, although neither of them showed it, they were scared of dying, the only thing that took the edge off that fear was the fact that they could use Ki to get them out of some hot water if needs be.

[And I bet Asuka fears not being able to love Goten] Misato thought

"This is wrong on so many levels: kids in the front line of a war.  I always thought that was illegal" she lamented and looked at Shinji as he applied aftershave in the main room.

"Well, time to get this circus on the road.  Let's go everyone" Misato said and grabbed her keys

Shinji and Asuka called out that they were coming and the pair soon materialised: Shinji was in a light grey suit with a black tie and a red shirt and Asuka was in her dress.

***********************

Misato picked Hikari up on the way; they were also picking up Goten.  Misato wasn't comfortable with that but that was the only way she could watch them and see what was what.  Goten, in a black suit came strolling out and sat beside Asuka: Trunks was no where to be seen

"Nice suit Goten" Misato said, trying to be normal

"Thanks Misato" he replied and smiled at Asuka, a smile that melted her heart

"Hi, Goten" she said and smiled back at him

Misato wondered how Rei was getting to the party but knew that Rei was capable of looking after herself so she just kept driving.  Something nagging at Misato was, whom Rei was bringing with her, Asuka had told her that Rei was bringing someone but not who it was.

They arrived at Nerv's main gate after a few minutes.  The room Ritsuko had gotten was in the administration department so it was open to the public and not near any of the important areas.  The kids went in first and were followed by Misato; Goten however took a quick glance at the sky

[Here they come] he said to himself and continued inside

THUD, Misato turned around and took a mental snapshot: Rei was in Trunks's arms like a cliché maiden with her arms around his neck.  The white dress and ruby pendant just completed the picture.  Trunks was dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie.  Trunks gently set Rei on the ground and she dusted herself off, not that anything could hit them through the field Trunks put up to fly.

"Are you okay?" he asked

Rei nodded

Yes, lets go inside" she said

"Captain" Rei said curtly as she passed Misato

"Rei, and you're Trunks I guess" she said and pointed to Trunks

"Yes I am" he replied and followed Rei inside, brushing past Misato

**********************

Inside, there was a lot of Nerv staff mixing and drinking and laughing.  The two pilots and their dates were at a table with Maya, Aoba and Hyuga chatting.  Maya kept throwing dirty looks at the group of younger techs who were making fun of Rei

[I wish she would come in with a hunk of a young man and show those bitches up, just once] she thought

Little did Maya know that her wish was going to come true sooner than she thought; for as soon as Rei walked in, they began to giggle, but Trunks came up behind them and smirked, his green eyes glinting in the party lights

[Wait, green eyes?] Goten gasped as it hit him like a Ki wave

[That cheeky little sod, he turned Super Saiyen 2 just to come here] Goten knew Trunks could be a bit risky, but this was a beauty

Maya was looking open mouthed at the young man behind Rei, his clothes fit him like gloves and it showed off a few of his muscles.  It was the hair and eyes that Maya couldn't take her eyes off: his hair was platinum white and swept up like a flame that seemed natural to her.  His eyes were an odd shade of green but were sharper than spear heads

"Go get em Rei" Maya said to herself

Ritsuko was equally pleased; not only had Rei shown up, but she had brought a date with her and a rather handsome one too

[Thanks for a great birthday present Rei] Ritsuko thought as she thanked another quest for coming.

**************

Commander Ikari watched the celebration from his office via the video link, his eye trained on the two unidentified teens.  The one with black hair seemed harmless enough but the one with gold hair seemed to radiate danger and the same kind of mysterious sex appeal as James Bond

"I must remove her from the party soon, otherwise irreversible damage could be done" Gendo said to himself

***************

The party was getting to a dancing part, eventually the slower songs started and the slow dancing began.  Rei enjoyed this quieter music and wanted to know what it felt like to dance to it

"Would you like to try it?" a voice asked her: she looked up and saw Trunks

"Okay, can you dance like that?" she asked

"Yes, can you?" Trunks replied

"A little" Rei answered 

"Okay, come one and I'll show you something my parents taught me" he said and led her to the dance floor

Those who knew Rei best stared in utter shock as she and Trunks began to, quite well, slow dance to the song that was on 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' it was.  Then without warning, Trunks lifted up into the air a little, around three feet up, but he was still flying

*********

Gendo saw this and he moved so fast that he nearly dropped his glasses.  He had to get her out of there before her barriers broke

*********

Rei was in a type of bliss she had no idea existed and almost as if by instinct, she and Trunks leaned in to kiss each other, but the entrance of Commander Ikari stopped the process

"PILOT AYANAMI.  I WISH TO SEE YOU IN MY OFFICE NOW!" he bellowed


	4. I Don't Remember You

Trunks's eyebrows twitched as he floated to the ground ready to give this interrupting arsehole the thrashing of his life.

"Hey, jerk-off; it's rude to interrupt" Trunks snarled

Everyone in the room stopped dead, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop in that room.  Gendo fixed the boy with a penetrating stare, but Trunks had inherited his father's eyes, they could be warm and caring, but they could also be colder than ice and harder than steel; even more so when he was Super Saiyen

"Do not interfere in affairs that do not concern you" Gendo said and tried to brush Trunks aside

Trunks however had no intention of moving and stood fast, daring Gendo to attack him.  Gendo looked at the boy closely and even though he disliked him, he at least respected him for being brave.

"Bravery, I admire that, but graveyards are full of brave people" Gendo said

"They're also full of idiots.  Which are you?" Trunks shot back: his wit was sharp

Shinji sat in the background smirking and giggling at the sight of his father being beaten in a slinging match by a young boy.  Gendo scowled and threw a punch at Trunks.  The young Saiyen just smiled and caught the hand with a deft movement.

"Well, I guess we know what you are" Trunks said

Before Trunks could do anything foolish, Rei put her hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear

"Don't worry.  The council interviews everyone once a week.  It's just my turn now" she explained, a soothing tone in her voice

Growling, Trunks released Gendo's arm and nodded, his temper cooled from her words

"Okay" he said and stepped aside, but his gaze never left Gendo

Rei silently followed the request from Gendo, but all the time he felt Trunks watching him with hawk eyes: he knew that Seele would throw a serious fit over this: she had nearly kissed the boy for Christs sake.

[I'll have to give her a memory dump] Gendo decided as he led her out of the conference room

[Don't worry Rei: I'm keeping an eye open for you] Trunks thought and focused on her Ki

****************

Goten saw the mood of the party was going sombre so he decided to liven it up a bit, that's when he caught sight of Aoba's guitar

"Hey, who's guitar?" he asked

"Mine" Aoba said

Goten picked it up and grabbed a pick

"May I?" he asked

Aoba nodded and Goten plugged the instrument in to an amp and some speakers

"Okay.  Any requests from the birthday girl?" he asked Ritsuko

"Sweet Child O' Mine" Ritsuko said

"Done" he said and began strumming away, like Hendrix, only younger.

Misato wasn't paying any attention at all, she was still looking at Trunks: he had displayed a great deal of bravery in the face of a man who was quite easily in control of the most powerful weapons known to mankind and the evil nature to use them.  In the meantime, Ritsuko wanted to talk to Trunks: for she had witnessed a rare event

"Hi, I'm Ritsuko; Rei's step sister" she said, looking at the boy

"I thought you had lavender hair and blue eyes", she added

"I'm Trunks, and it's a bit of dye, gel, and some contacts" Trunks replied

"What do you do here?" he asked

"I'm the lead scientific person.  I work mainly with the Evas and try to improve them as much as possible," she explained

"Okay.  Tell me; do this council interview the pilots every so often?" he asked

"Yeah, although they speak to Rei more often than Asuka.  Shinji hasn't had his first interview yet", she said dismissively

Trunks sighed: as long as the whole thing was legitimate he figured Rei was safe.  However Trunks was far from right: a council had indeed interviewed Rei: but it wasn't just a performance review.

***********

Rei woke groggily in a medical ward somewhere inside Nerv: the commander was standing over the bed with a doctor flanking him

"How are you?" he asked

"Fine" she replied, her head was thumping like a jackhammer

"Good.  You took a tumble after your interview, that's why you're here" Gendo said

"Do you remember anything?" the doctor asked

"I was at a party, mot much more than that.  It was my step-sister's" Rei told them everything she could remember.

Gendo escorted her back to the conference room: the group had split up into adults and kids by now.  Gendo shook his head as he saw his Chief of Operations swooning around drunk with her hapless boyfriend following her to try and get her to sit down.  Gendo turned his attention to Trunks; he was sitting with a look on his face that denoted concern and concentration, as if he was searching for something.

"Ah, Rei.  You're back", Trunks said

He went over to her with a small smile on his face

Rei cocked her head at Trunks with confusion in her eyes and stared at him for almost a minute til she answered

"Who are you?" she asked

The world around Trunks went black: those words had cut through him like no Ki wave had ever managed to, and hurt twice as much

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember you" she said and walked past him, over to the punch bowl.  Trunks looked up to see Gendo's smirking face

"Trunks.  Doka oe anat sui" Goten yelled in a strange language  (Don't do anything stupid)

"Xa Goten, Ia wau gesa ano" he answered  (Relax Goten, I wasn't going to)

[What the hell language is that?], almost everyone wondered

Trunks again turned to Gendo and glared at him

"Iza Rei ir ijra ba ouya, Ia wiy xute ouya" he said in a low, icy and dangerous tone

Trunks then turned bowed to the assembly, looked forlornly at the isolated Rei and left.  Gendo was puzzled as to what Trunks said to him but just dismissed it and left.  Asuka looked at Goten

"What did he say?" she asked

Goten took a moment before answering

"Roughly 'if Rei is injured by you, I will kill you', or words to that effect" he answered

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch; many of the adults asked Goten what Trunks said, but he lied saying he didn't speak the language as fluently as Trunks did and that their guess was as good as his.

[Oh am I going to give you a chewing out when I get home] Goten seethed that Trunks would put him in that position, but that was his mate Gendo was messing with.

*************

Ritsuko drove Rei home, but on the way she decided an explanation was in order

"Okay what happened?" she asked at a red light

"What do you mean?' Rei asked

"With Trunks.  Misato told me he flew you to the party, you were practically wrapped around him in fact.  Then you go away for fifteen minutes, come back and you don't remember him" Ritsuko snapped

"Should I have?" Rei asked

"Well if a handsome young man flew me somewhere, then yes I think I would remember both him and the flight after twenty minutes" the scientist was very confused

"Is there anything else?" Rei asked

"How about him nearly breaking Gendo's wrist because he thought the man was going to hurt you?" she asked, knowing that Rei would remember something like that.

"That was after you two nearly kissed", she added

Ritsuko certainly wasn't going to forget the bastard's face when that young boy caught his hand and nearly broke it.  Another thing she would never forget was how, happy, Rei seemed to look when they were about to kiss, and then that old coot came in and ruined the whole thing.

"I don't remember any of that," she answered

[They were air dancing for heaven's sake.  I wish my boyfriend would learn that] Ritsuko was stunned into silence by the responses she was getting from her stepsister.

The two remained silent until Ritsuko pulled up at Rei's apartment block

"See you after school tomorrow Rei" Ritsuko said and drove off

Rei walked up to her apartment, but stopped.  She remembered that Trunks, the boy who assaulted the commander, lived a floor above her.  Rei then headed upstairs and knocked on the door, number 501.  A minute later, Goten answered

"Oh, hi Rei" he said

"I wish to speak to Trunks" she said, her voice was monotone

"Sure" Goten turned his head "Trunks!  Rei to speak to you" he called

"He'll be here in a minute" Goten said and invited Rei in.

Trunks came out of the bathroom in a singlet and pair of sweat pants

"Hi" he said

Rei said nothing.  Trunks anticipated her move and lowered his Ki to lower than a child's, so that when Rei slapped him across the face, she didn't break her hand, **SLAP**, the sound resonated through the apartment: Goten was speechless

"Stay away from Commander Ikari, and stay away from me" Rei said; her voice colder now

The slamming of a door broke the apartment's silence: as Rei exited it.  Goten went over to Trunks warily, he didn't want to startle him

"Shit, Trunks are you okay man?" Goten asked

Trunks snorted and looked away, he then went to his bedroom

[So, that's what it feels like to have your heart broken, and your soul ripped out] Trunks recalled his father saying these moments would hurt worse than any battle injuries.

The door closed and Trunks went to sleep, and Goten sat down to contemplate this series of events: he came to one conclusion

"They must have been bonding because…" Goten dared not say it aloud

[…Only that could make Trunks, son of Vegeta, prince of the Saiyens, cry] he finished in his head.

*****************

A/N:  As a rule, I have adopted, if you want to make a crossover romance good, the two characters must overcome many obstacles: this is one of them in Evangelion regarding Rei, because I read somewhere that after a session in the LCL tube in the Dummy System room, most of her outer memories are erased, leaving only core ones intact.


	5. A Letter & Goten's Strike

The next day at school; it became obvious to the others that Trunks was upset; he wasn't focused, and he sat at the opposite end of the room: his friends began to worry about him: they worried a lot.

"Goten, what happened?" Hikari asked

Goten looked around to make sure Trunks wasn't listening in on him

"Rei came to our place last night, and she slapped him, and told him to stay away from her and Commander Ikari" Goten said, spitting the word Ikari as if it were poison

Hikari was stunned: there was something very wrong here, and it all started when she went off for that interview.  An idea had popped into Hikari's head as she thought about this: when something like fall as Rei had said happened to her, that person's Ki went funny, but Trunks had been sensing for it the whole time, so if it did happen, why didn't he notice it.  Spurred on by this line of thinking, Hikari went to find the now isolationist Trunks: he now spent his time on the top of the school in a gargoyle like position, watching but never moving until it was time for class; it gave everyone a real chill to know such a pair of eyes were watching them.  She approached carefully

"Trunks, can I speak with you?" she asked

"Go ahead" he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

"After you left last night, Rei said she'd fallen down.  Now she must have been unconscious for about 5 minutes, and if so, her Ki must have been lower than it was when she was with us: and if you were keeping tabs on her: why didn't you notice?" she asked

"Her Ki did not fall, if it did then Gendo Ikari would have ceased to exist the instant he walked through that door" he said, his voice still low but with a, mad, edge?

[What the hell?], the tone scared Hikari

"Okay, then.  I'll see you around Trunks" she said and made a quick retreat

As soon as Hikari was downstairs she went to find Goten because if she was right then he was the only one who would know what was going on.  After some looking, she found him sitting with Asuka under a tree.  They waved her over

"Hi Hikari we-" Asuka started but Hikari started speaking

"Goten: what happens to Saiyens when this sort of thing occurs" she asked, referring to the 'break up' of sorts between Trunks and Rei

"Well, usually the pair will mope around for a few days but then they usually recover and its all hunky dory" he said.  The something clicked in his mind, right at the back

"Why?" he asked, sitting up, making Asuka drop off him

"Hey!" she cried indignantly and whacked Goten on the leg

"When I went as spoke to Trunks, his voice seemed, mad"

"Mad as in pissed off, or…" he didn't say the rest

"The unspoken latter I'm afraid" Hikari admitted

[Oh shit] he thought

"Hikari, are you absolutely sure it sounded mad?  No joking around here", Goten said

"Go and speak to him yourself if you don't believe me" she said defensively

"I'm sorry but I have to be sure.  It's very important" Goten stressed the point

"Why?" Asuka asked

"Sit down, and I will tell you of a dark part of Saiyen nature, a very private part.  As females I expect you put this into context, I hope" Goten said and sat down

Hikari and Asuka followed suit and sat down, awaiting his story.  Goten explained that Trunks had been bonding with Rei, which is why his behaviour had been odd after last night.  He said that when a Saiyen bond is severed, the male usually become very violent and kills anything that moves.  Fortunately because the bond wasn't completed, its effect wasn't immediate but it is also the cause of insanity among Saiyens.  And if Trunks's voice indeed sounded mad, then there was a good chance he was going to go off in a rage, destroying all in his path, friend or foe.  He even told them what happened when his older brother's mate was killed: whole countries and cities felt his wrath at the evil that took her, but he was long dead

"So you see, when this sort of thing happens, the two must be watched very carefully.  Or the shit hits the fan" he explained 

"What will he do?" Asuka asked

"I honestly don't know: he may explode in a vicious rage at any second, or he could sit back and plan his attack" Goten was unsure.  He decided to go and see his friend

Goten flew up to the roof quickly and sat down beside Trunks.  For a while nothing was spoken between the two when eventually Goten had to break the silence to try and accomplish his goal

"Trunks; I have to know; did you sense something happen to Rei?" he asked

"Yes.  It was odd, it felt like she was being drained but not physically, her Ki only fluctuated for a brief second otherwise I wouldn't of noticed it" he said

"So you aren't up here plotting or just waiting to snap and kill us all then?" Goten said, being the somewhat clueless creature that he is

Trunks said nothing and continued to track Rei with his eyes: she may have brushed him off but he knew there was more to her actions last night than a change of heart: when he asked her about her Ki training from him, she had no idea what he was talking about, nor did she remember that he was not human.

And also, he was damned if any little dirty so-so was going to touch _his_ mate while he was still breathing

************

As Goten, and Trunks walked into their apartment, a letter flopped down from the letterbox: it was addressed to Trunks

"Mail for you man" Goten said and handed him the letter.

Trunks scrutinised it for a minute: then opened it.  It read:

'Trunks,

Don't ask where the letter came from, no one knows.  Don't ask who I am, I won't tell you.  What you and I now have in common lad; is a wont to have Gendo Ikari's head on a plate.

I know through sources that Gendo has done something to Rei, and it has angered you.  I've been told of the somewhat dramatic near kiss you two had.

I can and will help you to get her back, but I need your help too.  I am in need of someone with your 'abilities' shall we say to help me find some rather unsavoury people and 'deal' with them.

If you want my help and information, come to: 314 Fuji Road in the suburb of Taiko at 10 tonight, it will be dark so my Ki will be raised to its maximum, find me that way.

Regards,

You didn't think I'd really put my name here did you?'

Now Trunks is a normally rational young man, but with the prospect of getting his mate back and erasing the damage that Gendo had done was too tempting to pass up and he went into his room to prepare.  After rifling through some stuff, he found what he was looking for: a long wooden box with a lock.  He opened the box and it revealed a sword, the same sword that vanquished Frieza and the same sword that his father forged for him years ago.  Trunks smirked and slung it over his back and fastened the strap.  It was only 5, but he wanted to scope the area out first, so he went for a fly.  And besides, he wanted to speak to Ritsuko

*************

Gendo walked along a great corridor, it was lit only by slits of artificial light along its walls.  He was in deep thought.

["This procedure is very dangerous, the results to her mind could be fatal if it is done a second time, and don't even ask about a third"] the doctor had said to him after Rei's erasure had taken place

"If this brat breaks her barriers again, I am going to have to get rid of him" he said to himself

"Then I will set myself up as her guardian; then I can have a better doctor do the memory procedure rather than that backstreet crook" Gendo was no slouch: he had a plan and he was going to carry it out, no matter the cost

He entered a large room with doors thicker than trees and gazed at one of the many creations he had overseen the construction of in his job as Nerv Supreme Commander: it was a glass tube that ran off a spinal cord like cable that was connected to a to what looked like an intestine shaped structure.  In the tube was the girl whom he mentioned.  She was helping him work on a special system for he Evangelions but only he and another scientist knew about it.  The man in question was Kazuhiko Katsuragi, Misato's father; a brilliant man

"Kazuhiko; how is the mapping process coming along?" he asked while watching the prone girl in the tube: her eyes were closed but he knew she was awake

"Brilliantly: at this rate old friend we will have the Dummy System ready for testing in a month" the man said

Gendo smirked a dangerous smirk: his plans were coming together and he was sure that no one would stop him; the Dead Sea Scrolls assured him of success if he manipulated things right.  However the Dead Sea Scrolls said that that Asuka would have to be hurt by the 15th Angel and the Scrolls didn't factor in outside interference, especially from creatures like Saiyens.  Gendo was unaware however of the boy's origins so to him it wasn't a factor.

Rei on the other hand was, and anything that affected her, affected the scenario.  And something was affecting Rei: this process called for a great deal of mental clarity and although she had achieved it, Rei was finding it harder to concentrate because of images and voices invading her mind, ones she knew were not hers.  They were of fierce and bloody hand-to-hand battles with creatures of nightmares that made the Angels thus far seem tame and weak.  It frightened her; nothing had ever really frightened her before that she could remember.  The voices were saying things she didn't understand

"Fusion Ha"

"Irakta Trunks ko"

"Nir, Gotenks gahsi"

"Yuuh ilwa enver defte I"

"Oh, elwa hokcha ith, FINAL FLASH"

When the beam hit, for the voices were accompanied by images, Rei's eyes opened wide and she began to thrash around in the tube until she remembered what she was doing and where she was.  Her eyes turned to the front: Gendo was watching her with a worried expression.  Then he turned to Professor Katsuragi and began barking things but she couldn't hear them

**********

"What the hell was that Katsuragi?" Gendo growled

"I don't know" said the scientist and began twisting a nob and adjusting some stats

[That was odd, it was like a nightmare for her, but her mind is practically designed not allow REM sleep] he was confused because of this: such a possible development in Rei was dangerous for her and the plans he and Gendo had for her

"And what was that language she was muttering" Gendo asked, he heard only a few undiscernible words, nothing he could even begin to use or understand

"The translator doesn't recognise it.  It's possible that it is the Tongue of Angels.  She is part Angel after all," the scientist suggested

Gendo's eyes widened in anger at the suggestion, his fists clenched and his teeth began to grind together and he walked over to Kazuhiko very slowly and placed himself nose to nose with the man, and told him in a voice colder than an arctic wind

"If she learns the Tongue of Angels, then it spells doom for us all.  I don't care if you have to grow her a new brain: if that is the Tongue of Angels, I want all traces of it in her mind gone" his message was clear

"Yes sir" the older man replied, his hope of learning the Tongue of Angels for himself were dashed as Commander Ikari walked from the room.

Kazuhiko sat down on a chair and removed a small parchment from a drawer and unrolled it on the desk: on the parchment was a small diagram.  It showed a design he called 'The System of 6', so named because on it were six circles with a different colour (indicated by a work in brackets underneath the circle), and in each circle lay a symbol that so far, he had only been able to decipher two: in the blue circle it said 'Silent One' the gold one said 'Powerful One'.  He had spent many years trying to figure out what the rest meant and indeed what the image meant in general.

He was hindered by another problem; some of the parchment was missing and possibly forever.  He had used his contacts to get him people all over the world looking for it or any information on it.  So far though all the searches had turned up nil, or just useless hearsay from old drunks in bars in the Middle East.

"It's hopeless, I suppose" he sighed and set about doing a brain scan on Rei for that language she spoke.

He winced for he knew that if someone, anyone not in the real loop of Nerv would most likely execute him for these crimes, especially his daughter or the girl's stepsister.

****************

Trunks arrived at Ritsuko's apartment building in the inner suburbs of Tokyo 3; a nice place but a bit loud for him.  Trunks smirked as he recalled all the builders next to his place contending with all the 'equipment failures and thefts' that had practically stopped production.  Trunks found the number on the buzzer panel on the door and pressed the button, **buzz.**

**/**Hello/ a voice crackled from a speaker

"Ritsuko, its Trunks.  I want to speak to you," he said in an even voice

/Oh, Trunks ah.  Hi, um okay.  Just let me get my stuff together, won't be a second/ Ritsuko replied.

Trunks waited patiently for the science technician to open the door to her building and go in.  His mind was ticking over all the time however.  First, Ritsuko was the lead science tech; so she would know what kind of procedure was used on Rei in theory.  Organizations like Nerv rarely operated with in the law, so there wasn't anything stopping The Commander of Nerv hiring black market operators to come and do his dirty work when ever it was required.  So if that was the case, the Trunks needed this mystery joker's help indeed.

Another thing he had been doing was going through a list of suspects as to they identity of this person, and so far he had come up only a few real possibilities and that was weak at best: this person had gone to great lengths to keep their identity a secret.  Trunks loved secrets, especially those belonging to other people

A buzzing sound alerted him to the open door to the building.  He turned and went inside and travelled up to the door of Ritsuko Akagi and knocked on it.  The blonde answered in a flash. A large shirt and some lacks her clothing at the moment.  Ritsuko blinked and looked nervous as she caught sight of the sword on his back

"Don't worry: I got a reason for that" he said as Ritsuko asked him in to the apartment.

To make her more comfortable he slung it off and left it in a cupboard before sitting down

"Okay, Trunks if this is about Rei, I heard she slapped you later that night, I am sorry but-"

"I came for no apologies: what I want is an answer to this question: is there any technology in the world that can erase the memories of a human being?" he asked

Ritsuko was a little taken back by the question and was rather nervous about the look in Trunks's eyes as he spoke, but she was going to answer

"Well, there is an experimental procedure that I know of that was given a trial run on removing disturbing memories from victims of severe shocks, like a rape victim and alike" she said

"And?" Trunks prompted her on with a word and a stare

"Well it had to many negative side effects: brain retardation, autism and sometimes death.  The trials were deemed a failure and the whole thing was destroyed and its staff disbanded" she finished, lighting up a cigarette at the same time

"Did any date survive from the trials?" he asked

Ritsuko took a drag on her cigarette and looked sharply at Trunks with her greenish eyes, but she found that hers held no chance of ever penetrating those obsidian stones.  She knew a person who could do it though.  Ritsuko tapped the ash of the end of her fag and spoke

"I can see where you're going with this and I assure you, there is no area of Nerv save the Seele council chambers and Commander Ikari's wing that I cannot access" Ritsuko said

"Uh huh.  And you know how big each of those areas are?" he asked

"Yes I do, I have a map of them: the council chamber is not more than 7 meters across and 15 down, and around 3 meters high.  The Commander's Wing isn't very big," she said

Trunks laughed a little: for a scientist she was quite naïve and silly, but it wasn't her fault

"And you believe that the most powerful man in the world just keeps his bowling trophies in a private wing?  A little naïve to be working for a government agency" Trunks replied

[He is a sharp one.  I wonder if…] Ritsuko wondered

Before another word was said: another woman came out of the bathroom in a towel and a smaller one around her head.  Trunks just flicked his eyes up, identified the woman and shrugged

"Hi Maya.  How's the wrist?" Trunks asked casually, referring to the sprained wrist Maya got when she was playing hockey

"F, fine thanks" she stuttered

"What's wrong?  You sound upset?" Trunks asked

Ritsuko felt she had to cut in: Maya was a bit stunned as to how to explain why she was with Ritsuko

"Well, Maya is a little sensitive about our friendship" she said

"Oh okay.  It's okay Maya, I'm not reading into this at face value" he said did a quick check

[Their friendship is true and strong.  If only all people were so lucky] he thought and smiled

"Thank you for the information Ritsuko; I'll see you around.  Maya, that wrist should be good in a few days.  Just exercise it gently occasionally to keep it from becoming cramped and stiff" Trunks said

"Oh and I won't spread the word that you're a lesbian: because you're not.  You have my word as a gentleman and a warrior"

Trunks was going to leave but as he picked up his sword he knew that if he was to gain the trust of the people he needed to help him get Rei back, he'd have to be straight with them.  So he spun on his heel, went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife

"Ritsuko, if I am going to have any chance to help Rei, I need your trust as well as hers, so I am going to give you a very secret piece of information" he said and made a quick cut across his hand

Ritsuko looked on with wide eyes while Maya began to shake

"Take this to your lab tomorrow, and in secret test it.  I believe the results will be self-explanatory" he said and handed her the bloody knife in a plastic bag.  Then he walked out, leaving both women stunned

******************

There was a silence in that apartment that seemed to last almost an hour, while in reality it was only a few seconds long.  Maya broke the silence first

"Is he dangerous?" Maya asked when he was out of earshot

"I wish I knew Maya, I wish I knew" she replied and hugged her friend, soothing her fears

****************

Asuka was on her bed at her apartment, purring in contentment as Goten managed to ease all the muscle tension in her shoulders by emitting low energy and low frequency Ki waves as his hand skimmed along her shoulders and back

"Who taught you this?" she asked as a satisfied groan escaped her mouth 

"My father did.  It was originally to ease muscle tension and muscle related injuries after training and battle, but I soon learnt that it had more intimate uses" he answered

Asuka wasn't listening however.  She was wondering on something.  People had been asking why she'd had a sudden change in attitude and behaviour lately: she used to be quite aggressive and got into a few fights; she also usually won them.  Since the arrival of Goten however, she had mellowed considerably.  She was still a bit louder and more rambunctious than most girls and some boys, but she was definitely friendlier than she used to be

"Goten, that Saiyen Bond thing you talk about, what does it do?" she asked

Goten stopped the massage and looked Asuka in the eye, in it he saw pain and confusion, like Trunks it was buried deep inside but not as deep as Trunks.  He also saw fear: fear of what he had no idea

"It creates an unbreakable mental link between two people.  It is so strong that they often are able to read each other's thoughts if one allows the other in" he said

"Do they transfer dreams, images and memories?" Asuka was starting to cry

"Yes they do, some good and some bad: as is the nature of all things.  If a bond is made, no force other than death can break it," he added

"So, you Saiyen's mate for life" she said, reaching out and touching Goten's cheek

He grasped her hand gently and rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand, her skin was smooth but firm, and a nice tan colour like his own.  Through her skin he felt small buzzes of Ki: she was afraid of something

"Why are you afraid?" Goten asked while he got up on the bed beside Asuka

"I've been seeing images in my head: ones of bloody violent combat between…"

Asuka paused and turned her head to see Goten: he as smiling, she had smile back

"You and some other beings, it was horrible.  I thought Eva combat was tough, we've nothing on your kind of combat" she said

"Asuka" Goten whispered her name, and she looked up and saw him mid-transformation to Super Saiyen.

It was beautiful in a way, he seemed more heavenly with the yellow glow, and his eyes were a bit softer on the eyes now.  Asuka also knew that behind the mask of beauty in the transformation lay its real purpose: war.  To Saiyens it seemed as if the Super Saiyen was the Evangelion Pilot of their race: ultimate warriors and wielders of incredible power.  And young, fragile and vulnerable, just like them.

Not that Asuka would ever admit to being fragile and vulnerable, but she was, and Goten could see it.  He could also see her loneliness and sadness.  Without thinking, Goten leaned in and kissed her softly.  He felt her lips tremble a bit so he pulled away.

Asuka was surprised when Goten kissed her, and she was even a bit sorry when he pulled away.  Goten giggled when he saw Asuka was blushing.  Asuka however pointed out that Goten was too, then, as softly as she had him, Asuka Langley Soryu, pilot of Evangelion Unit 02, let someone close to her heart and she was placed close to his.

The kiss lasted until the night was late.

**************


	6. A Meeting & Double Discovery

At this time, Trunks was at the meeting point given by the man who sent him the letter: it was a smoky and hazy part of town with lots of bars, whores and brothels: he hated it instantly.  Trunks found the road and stood under a street lamp: it was only 9:30 so he decided to wait for his mysterious possible partner in crime here in some remote form of comfort.  He had smirk at the big business men and rich people that seemed to come here for a bit 'slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am' despite the amount of women who would willingly marry them.  He found it really funny too as young barely legal teens went up to seasoned hookers and tried to be cool, he could almost hear the prostitutes laughing on the inside

[So where are you, you son of a bitch?] Trunks wondered as he scanned the city for an overly raised power level.

It was precisely 10pm when a power level appeared on Trunks's mental radar, only a few feet from where he sat, he looked in the general direction of the power and saw nothing but he knew the person was there

"So, do you want a password or a secret handshake or are we dispensing with the spy bullshit? Trunks asked

"Your jokes are a little stale," the man told him dryly

"Humour has never been something I invested a great deal of time in.  What have you got for me?" Trunks asked

"This is the address of a doctor who works the black market in operations on the brain.  And now, I want you to something for me" the man gave Trunks his information

"What?" Trunks asked

"There is a man in this area; he had a certain vice that must be exposed.  The camera under the bench you're sitting on is loaded with a film.  Use it: my fingerprints are not on it.  When you have the photos, take the camera to the police station, I have contacts whom will tell me if you have done so" the man explained at length

"Okay.  How do I find him?" Trunks asked

"The address is on the camera" was his answer

Trunks looked under his seat and there indeed was a camera: he bend down and picked it up, nothing special, a plain 35mm camera with no real functions.  It is then that a thought occurred to Trunks: was this a real deal, or was this git playing a game, because if he was, Trunks was going to show him some of the nastiest things this side of Andromeda.  Nor was there an address on the camera in any shape or form.

"Tell me, are you really here to help me, or are you playing me for a sap?" Trunks enquired, grinning lightly

The man said nothing

"Okay, well the camera is empty, and on top of that it's a tourist 35mm, how close to you want me to be to this man for incriminating evidence huh, 3 feet?" he snapped

"You are a sharp one" the man retorted and took a puff on a cigarette

"Yeah I am, so what is to keep me from beating the information out of you?" Trunks said aloud

"Nothing, except the fact that I am obviously important in Nerv, I would be missed or noticed if I was beaten up" he outlined the problems faced by Trunks in hurting him

"You argue well old man", Trunks said bitterly

"Good night Mr. Briefs" the man said and left the area, seemingly to just disappear

************

Trunks spun at those words, but the man was gone, as if he had not been there at all.  He searched the whole suburb for him, to no avail.  The man had just disappeared out of existence on this plane faster than Trunks had ever seen.

"So, what I do with this camera now?" he asked himself and looked at it

Shrugging, he smashed it on the ground: then he looked and inside the debris was a bit of rolled white paper, and a used film in its canister.  Trunks knelt and picked them up.  There was an address written on the paper.  He put it in his pocket and turned his attention to the film canister.  Its film was either used or not so he decided he'd check it out.  Quickly finding an all night chemist and photo developer shop, he went and asked the clerk to check the film for him.

"Won't be to long sir" the man said politely and went into a back room

True to his word, the clerk returned a minute or so later

"The film had been used sir, do you want it developed?" he asked

"How much?" Trunks replied

"50 yen" the man looked at a list

"Okay.  When will they be done?" Trunks asked

"By 2 o'clock tomorrow" the man answered

"Okay, I'll be here around 3 tomorrow avo, make sure that no one looks to closely at them" Trunks made his point by motioning at his sword as he spoke

The man behind the counter was a wise old buzzard though, the kind that doesn't scare easily and he simply nodded at Trunks, not a microbe of fear in his eyes or on his face.  Trunks had to return the smile at the bravery of the man as he walked out of the shop and went home.  He would deal with the address in the morning.

************

Else where, a young albino girl lay on her bed: tossing and turning in her sleep from the disturbing images that assaulted her in her sleep.  They were of the same origin as the ones in the Dummy Plug testing tank: only these were even more bloody and dark.  The worst one so far was a group of all these evil looking reptile creatures ganging up on a small girl of some sort.  Then a great golden field shoots up and shakes them off, a warrior; one with blonde hair, green eyes and a temper as fiery as his field had protected the girl, it was also filled with that odd language

"Askra mashiry itoa"

That was the only thing spoken this time, and although Rei had never heard of any language that sounded remotely like that, the phrase still managed to chill her to the bones; whether it was the tone of voice in its delivery or if on some odd level, she knew what it meant.

Then as before, an energy blast headed in the direction she was looking from and she woke up, screaming

"AAAAGGGHHHHHH" her voice was still quiet but still noticeable and very frightened.  A thin sheen of sweat covered her body

[I have to rid myself of these images, somehow] Rei decided, her neck was also still really sore and her head thumped in pain.

Rei carefully lay back down to sleep, her head clearer now and began to snore.  The images returned, but these ones were different: they were happy ones, she saw a young boy with purple hair, a little girl with blue hair and another boy with black hair.  Two adults were in sight: a man with head of hair that to Rei looked like a flame of black: the woman was very tall with blue hair.  Rei compared her to the little girl' they looked related.

Rei watched the family for a few minutes and saw that they were very close, and it seemed as if the adults shared a bond of almost unbreakable strength; she saw this in the ways they looked at each other and smiled, and all sort of little facial movements.

The scene however soon shifted to a dismal scene at a graveyard: the little girl, the woman and the man were gone, a larger group was flanking the young boy with purple hair; presumably the deceased were his family.  Rei felt a short stab in her stomach, who ever the boy was, she shared his pain.  Before the dream faded totally, she saw the names on the tombstones:

Bulma Briefs

Bra Briefs

Vegeta Briefs

Briefs, she knew that name.  Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind that word used in the context of a name, was familiar to her.

[Purple hair, the boy who I slapped, Trunks, Trunks Briefs] her mind finally put 2 and 2 together.

Then she woke up: it was morning and it was a school day.  Rei groaned a little; she was always very board at school.

***********

Today however, promised to be a little different for all the pilots and the two aliens hiding among them, Hikari too.  In a week, an interschool tournament for good Ki fighters was to be held.  Shinji and Asuka briefly thought about entering, but as soon as they saw the looks on Goten and Trunks's faces, they knew it would be pointless but their resolve to try made them join.  Rei also, in a surprising move, signed up to compete, her reason was that it would help her train as a warrior and a pilot in some regards; an opportunity not to pass up.

In the school yard, Shinji was beginning to notice things about Asuka, she and Goten were almost always together, when it was appropriate and although her aggressive and fighting nature was still there, it had dulled a bit.  Trunks knew why: he could sense their bond getting stronger.  They all sat together under a large tree in the schoolyard; even Rei sat near them

"Well Asuka, what's going on between you and Goten, huh, you two haven't left each other's side if you can help it all today?" Hikari teased

Asuka blushed and grabbed Hikari, pulled her into a head lock, and gave her a noogie

"Hey, don't man handle my girlfriend" Shinji said as he pried the red head off the grumbling Hikari 

"I forgot Shinji, that's your job" Asuka said with a wink

Shinji blushed and said nothing.  Goten watched with a big smile on his face.  It faded a bit when he saw Trunks looking, sort of forlornly at Rei, although he knew the proud son of Vegeta would never show it or admit to many, he had been hurt by what happened after that party

"Trunks, why don't you go and speak to her?" Goten suggested

"Because I will respect her wishes; until she revokes that wish, I will not go near her" he responded, eating his sandwich

"By god you are a stubborn bastard aren't you?  Trunks, you are bonding with her.  Now we both know that if the process fails and the bond deteriorates that it can be dangerous for you and it will be dangerous for her" Goten whispered through clenched teeth

"Only if it was more advanced like yours is," Trunks argued

"Bullshit.  You know that if you don't restore your relationship with her then she's going to go through a painful and frightening process with no one to help her.  Are you willing to do that?" he asked, knowing Trunks's weaknesses in this matter.

"No" he choked out

"Then get your ass over there and speak with her" Goten said, nearly kicking Trunks over to Rei.

Before that could happen though, the bell rang and the children were ushered into class

[Damn it] Trunks cursed

**************

Rei's head was again thumping like mad, so badly her vision began to blur and double up.  She began to feel dizzy and nausea had set in from something.  She tried to stand up.

"Ms. Ayanami, sit down" the teacher said, but he stopped as soon as he saw what sort of state she was in

Rei walked forward a few steps and then fell down.  Quicker than the eye could see, Trunks was beside her and had caught her, several desks had been knocked over.  Rei had begun to shake and convulse.  Some of the weaker students backed away in horror.  Rei began to speak in an odd tongue: few in the room had ever heard it before

"Makra, janir mafoo" Trunks recognised it instantly, Saiyen gibberish

[SHIT!], he would of yelled but managed to keep quiet

"Is that some kind of relapse?" someone asked

[I have to get her out of here] Trunks realised; he looked at the wall

A thought crossed his mind and for the second time for the girl in his arms, Trunks refused to think rationally and using an invisible Ki wave, shattered the wall to the outside and picked her up.  As he stood paramedics bearing the Nerv logo ran into the room and drew weapons

"Put the 1st Child down" the tall one commanded

"Put the pop gun down idiot" Trunks snarled, his voice was like wind, cold and strong

"If you do not put the 1st Child down, then I will shoot you," he repeated

"Are you mad man, you're in a room of kids" the teacher shouted

"Silence" the other medic said

"Listen to me now humans.  I hold a great power in myself, one far greater than all your warriors put together.  And if you come near this girl, you will face my fury.  All of it" Trunks said and began to float up into the air

The medics were not convinced and were about to open fire when Shinji and Asuka jumped in front of them, powered up and ready

"Stand down, private" Asuka said, her hair flicking in the wind her field made

"That's an order from a superior officer.  Stand down!" Shinji went drill sergeant on them.

With a great deal of reluctance, the pair lowered their guns and stood to attention

"Now, you were never here, this never happened, you heard none of what Trunks said and you didn't see her.  Get it?" Asuka asked the two men

"Yes ma'am" they chorused

Trunks thanked them and flew out of the window towards his apartment to help save his bond mate, even if it killed him.

************

Ritsuko was in her lab: she had finally managed to grab a private moment and was testing the knife Trunks cut his hand on: there was enough blood on it to do several tests.  She put it in the analyser and asked the computer to scan it against the small sample on the plug metal; she waited and had a smoke while she was at it.  Ritsuko nearly burst into fits of laughter at the sight of Maya's face that morning: she was so nervous that Trunks had said she was gay and Ritsuko was her lover that she's avoided her long time friend almost all day

"That girl will give herself an ulcer if she's not careful" Ritsuko smirked to herself as she thought of all the stress Maya put herself under

Just then, Sub-Commander Fuyutski walked into the lab, startling Ritsuko

"Sorry to disturb you Dr. Akagi, but I need to borrow your expertise for a minute" the old man explained tiredly

"Sir, in this doctor's opinion, you look like hell and need sleep.  Go home" she said; that man pushed himself to hard, even for a military man

"Yeah, maybe you're right doctor, I'm sure the sync test results can wait till morning.  Goodnight" he replied, yawning in the middle of his sentence.  He went on his way

Ritsuko sighed in relief; if she'd left the lab, anyone could of seen those test results, and then all hell could break lose, and given the current situation with aliens, she doubted the public would welcome new ones, even those who would help them.

Ritsuko laughed; she was only playing along because no one had ever done something this sweet for her sister and she was willing to play this bit out for fun.  She had given Maya's question of was he dangerous some thought, Ritsuko had concluded that no, Trunks was not dangerous, a bit odd yes but not dangerous

The machine beeped after nearly an hour to tell Ritsuko that it was finished.  Smiling the scientist clicked the PC on and she nearly dropped her cigarette:

SCAN CONCLUDED.         RESULT:         SAMPLES = PERFECT MATCH

Ritsuko thought the boy was joking, taking a chivalry thing way too far and she ran the test but it was true, this boy was the force of nature that decimated an Angel with his bare hands, well, with Ki too but it was a quantum leap above what they could do.

"Sweet Jesus, he wasn't joking", she gasped.

Thinking quickly, Ritsuko grabbed the knife and put it in the nearest incinerator, she locked both the plug metal blood sample and the knife blood sample in her safe.  Then encrypted the test results onto a private database.  She was sure that it would be safe there.

Now she faced the dilemma of what to do: her sister was the object of affection of the most powerful being on the planet Earth, and now her previous judgement of him was called into question and Maya's question now held more relevance than when it was asked

"Is he dangerous?" she asked aloud, not knowing that listening devices recorded her every word.****


	7. Mindscape Combat & A Deal

Trunks had put Rei on the bed in her apartment, then gotten his own and put it next to Rei's.  Trunks knew he had to act fast or she would suffer a serious injury.  Once the two beds were put together he lay down and grasped her hand: white light started to glow from their point of contact.

[Okay, here we go] Trunks thought as he and Rei began to bond

Trunks opened his eyes and saw an expanse of white in all directions: he looked around and saw, far in the distance he saw Rei, floating in mid air with her eyes closed.  Trunks flew to her but as he got within 5 feet of her, a field stopped him

"What the hell is this thing?" he asked

A spectre of the hated figure of Gendo Ikari appeared in front of Trunks with a self-satisfied smirk

"That is the A.T. Field of her heart.  I made sure that no one can get through it," it explained

"How are you here?" Trunks asked: he'd seen some weird stuff but this was strange

"I am an inner protocol designed for this kind of invasion", the form explained

Trunks growled and took a swing at 'Gendo', but his fist went through the image.  It smiled at the young warrior smugly

"Nothing will break through that field of isolation, no amount of affection can do it.  It wasn't as strong before, but after her mental dump; it solidified perfectly", the form was gloating

Trunks charged up and charged at the field, it became visible; it was indeed an A.T. Field.  He charged as much power into his charge as he could to without transforming to break the field but it still threw him onto the ground

"I told you; nothing can break through that field.  No human has the mental strength" 'Gendo's' smug voice oozed like oil

To the shock of the image of Gendo however, Trunks began to chuckle and smile: a most perplexing reaction.  The laughter nearly became insanely intoned as Trunks began rolling on the floor giving out guffaws of laughter

"Just one thing" he paused, still shaking from laughter

"Can you tell your real life counterpart what you see and hear?" Trunks asked

"Not unless he accesses me through s subconscious memory checker" the image replied

"Well, gave on this demon and know that your master's day of reckoning is at hand" Trunks cried dramatically and turned Super Saiyen 2.

The power up was emulated in the real world; while lying prone on a bed, Trunks turned SS2, although his power level only spiked for a minute before he suppressed it.  The image of Gendo reacted as if it were human: by falling over in awe and paling

"Yes, as you say: no _human_ could penetrate the barrier but I am _not_ _human_ as you can plainly see.  So know this, I will destroy that barrier, I will free her and someday, our bond will be completed!" Trunks declared

"How noble" the image spat sarcastically

"Yes, I know in this world the concept of defending the honour of a lady is somewhat outdated, but it's a natural reflex for my race" Trunks retorted dryly

The projection composed itself and stared at Trunks; clearly in a match the boy would defeat his human counterpart with no problems at all; his power was beyond that of many men put together.  So if he were to be effectively hurt, then the strikes would have to be subtle and smart.

"Brute force is not enough to break the A.T. Field.  Cunning and intelligence is also needed" it hissed

"I'll let you in on a secret.  I've been alive for almost a thousand years.  I was kept on a plain of existence in which time passes slower than normal, by the time I was 15 by their standards: I was a millennia old by human standards" Trunks smirked like his father as he spoke

[This, boy, is a millennia old.  What knowledge could he hold in his head, from living with such creatures?], it wondered

The spectre began to run away: Trunks assumed it was going to hurt Rei or alert Gendo to what was going on, so he remembered back to the Old Kai's lessons on mental plane combat

[I got it!], he exclaimed

Bending his pinkie and the finger next to it down, and covering them with his thumb, Trunks pressed the remaining fingers to his head so that the tips of his middle and index finger touched his forehead.  He began to search for anything that seemed added or wrong with her mindscape.  Though the Old Kai was a good teacher, Kibito knew more than anyone about the mindscape: he had taught them both how to destroy things without hurting the person

"Come on" he gritted his teeth in frustration as he searched

Gendo wasn't sloppy in his operations that was for sure, because where ever that little mini Gendo hid, it was well concealed and it was possible that it was an external thing, like a brain implant which would be harder to destroy.

"AH HA!" he exclaimed as he found it.  It hid in a small part of her mindscape that was associated with the emotion of love.

"Amure" Trunks said and began to emit waves

These waves were much like the body's natural painkillers and were sent pleasure nerves, giving a dulled but pleasant sensation to Rei's mind and ergo her body so as not to hurt her

"AAGGHH" the little image of Gendo had transmitted a bit of information through a small device in Rei's cerebral cortex but it was destroyed before it sent more

************

Goten was fuming: Trunks was acting out of Rei's best interests but it still put him in an awkward position later from questions arising from his fascinated classmates about his strange words and behaviour.  Asuka had tried to set him to rights but Goten was going to give (or attempt to give) Trunks an ass kicking about it.  Asuka and the others followed behind him as fast as they could, but Goten was undoubtedly faster than they were.

"How could he be so irresponsible?" Goten fumed

"What, would not have done the same for me if that was me on the floor?" Asuka countered

"Yes, but I would be more tactful about it.  If Trunks does one thing without thought, its things like that. He's just like his father" Goten sighed

"What and that's a bad thing?" Asuka asked

[Only if your father is someone like Vegeta] Goten thought dryly

It seemed to Goten that Trunks had inherited his father's 'protect-the-mate-at-all-costs' mentality: it could be helpful or a hindrance depending on the situation: this was a situation in which it was a hindering factor

"He better be unconscious" Goten muttered as he landed and opened the door.

As it turned out, Trunks was indeed unconscious, and Super Saiyen 2.  Goten was confused, at that level, the mere energy Trunks would be giving off should of nearly demolished the room and his power level should have been pretty easy to sense.  So where was all the power and energy going?

"Wow, check out the light" Shinji gasped and pointed at Trunks and Rei's point of contact.

[A bond beacon, this is good] Goten assured himself and sat down: the others were content to watch this miracle of Saiyen bio-physics, Asuka was more curious about the outside look of this whole process; because she'd taken the trip

*************

Ritsuko was in the Nerv coffee lounge having an extra black one of her favourite coffees when Misato, ever the bubbly one, came and sat down beside her

"Hiya Ritsuko" she crowed and smiled

"Hi Misato" Ritsuko replied and had another sip of coffee

"What's wrong?  You look miserable" Misato asked

Ritsuko darted her eyes around to make sure that no one was watching or listening to them in person, she had worked out that the powers that be would know a good portion of what she did, but not the name or what he was but she figured that Misato needed to know as she was the pilots direct superior

"Misato, do not react to what I say to you, please" she began

"Why?" Misato answered

"The alien that blew up the 4th Angel was Trunks.  Last night he came to my place and asked me a few questions.  He then cut his hand on a knife and gave it to me, saying something about trust" Ritsuko allowed her friend a moment to absorb that

"What?" Misato was dumbstruck

"Trunks, the young man who has obvious feelings for my little sister, can destroy Angels as a hobby" she said.

Misato froze in place and blinked, her cup nearly falling out of her hands

"What?" she stammered

"My sister's boyfriend, has the power to wipe us all out in his fingers" Ritsuko wasn't to sure how much plainer she could make that

"What about his buddy?" she asked

"Who?" Ritsuko wasn't sure whom Misato meant

"Goten!" she said through clenched teeth

"Well, it wouldn't surprise me if they had that much in common" she replied

Misato was up like a shot and nearly at the door before Ritsuko realised her friend was going to make a mistake that could cost her dearly.  So with the practiced moves of a sprinter, Ritsuko caught up with Misato and without thinking, pushed her against a wall

"Are you crazy?  If you barge in you could get hurt and you don't want that" Ritsuko spoke through grit teeth

"But Asuka would be in danger" Misato would normally scream, but was to terrified to do that at work

"I highly doubt that.  Form what I've observed; if Goten is like Trunks, then if anyone hurt Asuka, then they will end up on the wrong end of his fists," Ritsuko explained

"What?" Misato didn't understand

"Trunks's behaviour could be down to personality, or as is my theory, it is _instinct_ for his race.  If so, then Asuka and Rei are in good hands" Ritsuko was adamant of this

"And what if you're wrong; what if they're violent and intent on hurting them or worse?" Misato was of course referring to rape

"There is more chance in it happening to them in the streets.  And it would of happened to Rei.  The day Trunks arrived.  Section 2 were to slow, but they told me what happened: someone came from nowhere and obliterated the offender; to find any trace of him they needed a molecular scanner" Ritsuko gave a shortened version of the event

"He, he killed someone?" she was still poking holes in the scientist's argument

"If he hadn't of done it, Section 2 would of but they would have been to late to stop him raping Rei.  And personally I'm glad Trunks wasted him, one less scumbag on the streets" Ritsuko was starting to doubt Misato was going to believe her at all

"I still don't trust them" Misato wouldn't budge

"Fine.  But a word to the wise: look before you leap" Ritsuko gave up and went back to work

***************

In his cavern like office Gendo Ikari sat listening to the fragments of speech from Ritsuko's lab when she made her discovery but he still didn't know what it was about and Ritsuko was too good a hacker to leave any computer information in the open or within easy access of any little shit with a computer.  And most of the physical evidence was either in her private safe or had been destroyed.  And Gendo was unhappy about it

[She is undermining my authority, and that is a foolish move] he thought as he picked up his phone and dialled a number

"Hello Mr. Aida.  I wish to call in that favour.  Bring your son to my office at the end of the school day" he said and hung up

Gendo smirked: he had kept the technician's son out of prison for computer crimes a year ago, because the boy's skills were almost as good as Ritsuko's and he thought that in the future his talents may come in handy.  And now his foresight was beginning to pay off.

A few hours later, Mr. Aida brought his son Kensuke to the office of one Commander Ikari.  The boy had heard all sorts of stories about this man: some say he was merely a shrewd man with bitterness over his wife's death.  Others said he was the devil incarnate with his own bent agenda in life.  Kensuke couldn't, however, give two shits because all he needed to know was that if he screwed this favour up; then he was off to big boy's school.

"Well young Mr. Aida; it seems as if my foresight over your talents have proved right" Gendo said

"What can I do for you sir?" the boy asked respectfully

"Have your skills improved as a hacker since last year?" Gendo enquired casually

"I haven't been near a computer with the right grunt to drive a DOS game let alone hack a network" Kensuke was lying through his teeth

"Don't insult my intelligence lad.  I don't care if you broke a bond condition; you weren't caught and that proves to me that you are capable of what I want you to do" Gendo said

"Okay, what do you need done?" Kensuke asked

"I want you to hack a special firewall designed by my chef scientist: it is equivalent to a Class AA military firewall.  There're also several encrypted files and anti-hacking programs you need to get around" Gendo wetted Kensuke's appetite 

"Well I am intrigued" although he tried to seem detached, Kensuke was salivating like a dog over a roast dinner: Gendo was now speaking his language

"And as a bonus my young computer hacker.  If you succeed then you will have your record expunged and a place for you at the JSSDF Special Forces Academy may be open to you" Gendo could have asked Kensuke to kill a man for this kind of chance

"Well I accept your kind offer commander.  What information am I looking for?" Kensuke began to talk shop

"Anything on someone called Trunks; any test results in the last 3 days and sample comparisons.  Basically any kind of scientific info you can get your hands on" Gendo explained

Before he left to receive his orders and equipment from a Nerv official, Kensuke asked one last question

"What do I do after I've finished with the computer information and passed it onto you?" he asked

"Do as you wish, if you can discredit Trunks with anything you find, by all means do so.  But if I find out that you've hacked more than what I've asked," Gendo paused and pulled out a gun and primed it

"Then your old man will be making funeral arrangements" Gendo dropped the fake civility and used his cold voice; it chilled Kensuke to the bone

"Well I won't argue with you or that .357 Magnum in your hand", the boy had a good military wit

"Go" Gendo commanded and turned around in his chair to attend some matters on his large desk which were not for his eyes

Kensuke took the hint and left the office.  A Section 2 guard took him to a room filled with a hacker's wildest dreams.  Every kind of PC and peripheral he could want or need was there.  And he had the agent bring his personal collection of CD's with programs to the room.  It could take a few hours but the rewards were great

"Okay.  On your marks, get set, and; let's hack this bitch" he said and sat down to prepare to hack into the greatest mainframe known to man: the Magi

***************

Trunks was still in the mindscape of his mate: with no idea on how to break the barrier totally.  He had however been plotting on maybe not totally destroying the barrier but poking holes in it.  Because if he was right, then with small snippets and bits of information allowed through the holes, then the rest would crumble.  He knew ultimately that only Rei could destroy it.  There wasn't anything stopping him from helping though

"Okay.  Here it goes" he said to himself and stood up

Trunks faced the bubble that encased Rei; her eyes were still closed

"Rei, I hope you can hear me", he muttered

He took a deep breath and before he could think, Trunks passed the line of trying to help someone and trying to love someone

"I Love You!" Trunks yelled it as loud as he could, pronouncing each word carefully and concisely.

It took a few seconds before he got a reaction, but he got one.  Little bits of the field began to break open and crack, only a few small holes and a little shaking of the mindscape.  Rei also fluttered her eyes open and saw Trunks.  Little did he know that what he just did allowed her to regain some fragments of the memories that Gendo had taken from her, but only intuitions not full accounts.

"I know you", she said

[Better get out so she can wake up] Trunks thought and looked at Rei

"I'll see you in a second" he called and blew her a kiss

Shinji nearly jumped out of his skin when Trunks suddenly rose up from the bed and Hikari laughed at him as he shot across the room and into a wall, nearly through it too.

"Ugh, what an experience that was" Trunks said and rubbed his head

"Well, if you weren't down and out like this I'd be whooping you ass.  You compromised our mission and our friends today Trunks.  Don't ever do it again," Goten scolded

"Yeah okay" his friend replied nonchalantly and looked a Rei; she was slowly coming out of her sleep and her eyes fluttered open, just like in the mindscape

"Where am I?" she asked, a little disorientated

"You are at your home" Trunks answered

Rei looked up at him and stared at him; green to red, red to green.  After a few minutes of, comfortable, silence between the two: Rei made a request

"You four; please leave.  I wish to speak to Trunks alone" she said

Goten and Asuka, being the only two who knew what could be going through either party's head, ushered the other two out with threats of violence and death

After what seemed like an eternity; someone spoke

"If you're angry; I'll go" it was Trunks: he was assuming he'd offended her

"I'm not angry, just confused.  My life was a simple one.  Exist to pilot Eva and save the world.  My life had an equilibrium", she said

"Rei, I-" Trunks was cut off by Rei

"Let me finish.  It had equilibrium, past tense.  You came and you have thrown the balance.  At first I was, angry.  However we began to 'bond' as you say.  I felt things that I'd never felt before" Rei looked into his eyes as she spoke

"How do you feel?" Trunks asked

"Like something is, unfinished" she replied, then Rei acted on an impulse

Trunks's eyes widened as Rei kissed him, but soon fell into the moment.

***************

Gendo, Ritsuko and Fuyutski were in the office dealing with some finances when a Section 2 agent came in; he had been running.

"What's wrong Corporal?" Gendo asked

"Sir, you should see this", the agent said, panting as he relayed the video feed from Rei's apartment to the office screen

Fuyutski nearly burst out laughing when Gendo spat the coffee out all over the monitor

"GET ME KATSURAGI!" Gendo bellowed

[I don't think it'll help] Ritsuko chuckled to herself as Gendo demanded details and other information.

However as the research by Ritsuko had discovered; once that bond was forged; it couldn't be broken.

[The protocol may be dead, but the implant is still functioning] Gendo had been stewing over the events of a few hours ago.

"This will be interesting" Fuyutski said as Gendo stormed out

*****************


	8. Of Prophecies & Tournaments

Trunks was on his bed, it was still in Rei's room.  She was asleep on her bed: the experience in her mind had left her exhausted and Trunks began to ponder his actions

[A man as cunning as Gendo will no doubt have had ways to see us a few minutes ago.  He will not take this lightly] Trunks knew Gendo's type: arrogant, but very smart

[I better go and get those pictures.  That old goat better not have looked at them] Trunks thought and got up, kissing Rei on the cheek as he left

As he walked, Trunks felt several Ki signatures following him, he assumed they were either gang members or Gendo's goons: either way he could handle them.  If they were gang members he could just draw his sword and that would be that, the Nerv men he may have to show off a bit of power to though.

"Okay, whoever you are, come out now.  This isn't Dick Tracy where you can tail a man in rubber soled shoes" Trunks got tired of the rustling and called their bluff

A few men in black suits came out from bushes and buildings, all scowling and muttering

"You are instructed to come to Nerv Headquarters with us" the main guard said

Trunks decided to play low for a change

"Okay.  Lead the way" he answered

The stunned security men approached him carefully and placed a blindfold over his face

"Oh you kinky thing, you" Trunks joked, making them all look nervous

After being led to a car and driven a few miles, Trunks was led into a building.  What the stooges that had him did not know was that he was sending out Ki waves like sonar pulses and was able to get a fair idea as to where he was.  Eventually they stopped and took the blindfold off

"Was it as good for you as it was for me?" Trunks couldn't help joking with them; it was funny

"Leave us!" a voice ordered

Trunks turned around to see the man he really wanted to kill: Gendo Ikari, he was standing in all his smug glory behind a huge wooden desk.  He looked the part of the evil genius but Trunks suspected he was only a pawn and someone else was moving the pieces around here.

"So we meet again", Gendo said

"Could you be anymore cliché?" Trunks groaned and sat down

"You are remarkably confident for a boy of your age in your position.  Idiot" Gendo said and smirked

[Call me another name old man and see me wipe that smile off your face real quick] Trunks prayed for Gendo to give him an excuse to kill the man.

"I don't how you got into my pilot's mind, but I don't really care.  Do it again and I will kill you, or her whichever is easiest" Gendo told Trunks flatly

"Really.  Your goons will need one hell of a boost if they want to kill her or me, especially me" Trunks retorted

"I have other means of execution at my disposal" Gendo bit back

"You are you telling me this, it's like you have Bond Villian-itas, telling the good guy his plan before trying to kill him or threatening to kill him.  Have you ever watched a movie?" Trunks was toying with him

"I have no time for insolent babble.  My point has been made" he paused and approached Trunks; he was tall for a teenager but Gendo was still bigger

"I will kill her or you, maybe even both of you, understand"

"Ha, understand me, _human_, I hold more power in my hand than you are capable of handling in your whole body" Trunks sneered

"And what of Rei, why train her if she cannot take the strain?  I know she is weak" Gendo relayed this to the agents in Rei's room: she had been awoken by them and was listening

"Because like me, Rei is unique, she holds a power that will rival mine if it is brought through" Trunks snapped

Gendo's eyes widened: he knew that this boy wasn't bluffing about his own power, but was he bluffing about Rei's?  Gendo was not certain about this.

"Don't lie to me boy.  I can smell a lie at fifty paces", Gendo snarled

"Well the stink must be yours pal, you haven't spoken truth since I walked in" Trunks retorted

"I think we are done" Trunks added and turned to leave

"No" Gendo threw an energy blast at him; Trunks just let it hit him and kept walking

"I'll allow that, only once, do it again, and I'll shoot back" Trunks warned

"Will you" Gendo said and shot again, Trunks dodged

[Fine, you want to call my bluff, it's your pain] he thought and phased behind Gendo and shot a finger width beam through his shoulder.

Gendo fell to the ground howling in pain, he'd felt worse but this really hurt and the suddenness of it made him scream louder than he really wanted to.

"That will heal over in a few days.  Remember, super powerful" Trunks mocked as he left the room.

************

A guard was more than happy to show him the exit and left him there and went away pretty quickly.  Trunks shrugged and continued on his way to the chemist for the photos.  He arrived at the chemist about fifteen minutes later

"Ah, young man.  I have that roll of film for you" the counter clerk said and handed Trunks a package of photos

"Thanks" Trunks said and began leafing through them

Most of them were of a dark room with some control panels and such, but soon the pictures turned nasty.  A sequence of photos showed Rei stripped naked by two big guards that gave Nappa a run for his money on the sheer beefiness of their bodies; inject her with something and put her in a glass tube, she was still struggling but not as badly.

Trunks was furious: how dare they do this to her, to anyone, small relief that nothing else happened, or he would level the whole Nerv building.  The next shot was of Rei, closer; her face was twisted in agony as Trunks could only guess what they were doing to her and after another few shots she was still.  Then he saw a man, a man he did not recognise at all but he instantly hated him.  Trunks checked the date on the photo: it was the day of the party, the one after which Rei began to act funny.

"Gendo" Trunks's voice was low and dangerous but he kept his cool and walked home

The old man watched Trunks go and chuckled with a great deal of happiness: he had seen many young men and young women come and go, they were likeable but none had even seemed to hold values that Trunks seemed to.  The old man had sensed Trunks was a throw back to the Knight of the Round Table in his attitudes.

"Strength.  Honour.  Valour.  Truth.  Peace.  Kindness.  United we stand, divided we fall" the old man recited the code of the Knights of the Round Table he read in a book

That and seeing his sword was a bit of a giveaway that he was a swordsman.

"Such a strange world we live in now" he mused and went back to his work

****************

Rei was twisting and turning in her sleep again, more nightmares of things she did not recognise or wish to even know existed.  She woke up and was again covered in sweat

[I have to do something about this] she decided and looked around her room, searching for an out of place mass.  She found him by the fridge drinking some water

"What is going on in my head?" she asked

"You are experiencing my memories.  It is an irritating part of the bonding process," Trunks explained and put his glass down.

"Why are they mainly so, violent?" Rei asked

"Because my past has been mainly that.  Fighting, fighting to protect those who cannot protect themselves or against an enemy they cannot beat" he said and sat down

"Have you and Goten, ever lost?" Rei was curious

Trunks smiled and walked over to Rei and looked her in the eyes so she would know he wasn't lying

"No"

*****************

Goten was on his own bed thinking about Asuka and the upcoming tournament: if he and Trunks fought, which was inevitable, then Trunks would insist on giving them a show and try and make him transform in front of everyone and, well, he figured enough people knew about them with out compounding it.

Still, he secretly enjoyed when Trunks goaded him into a full power fight: it felt good to get the lead out and really power up and just have fun.  He hated being constricted to small power levels

"I wonder what the Shin and Old Kai are doing now?" he wondered out of interest what his two teachers were doing

*****************

Shin was in the palace of Kaishin, named after the previous Supreme Kai and he was not happy: he had asked Goten and Trunks to be discreet and now seven people knew of their power, and five of them knew of their mission to Earth: that was not his idea of discreet.  Not to mention the ones that suspected them out of their odd behaviour

"I should have kept them here until Buu was nearer" Shin berated himself

"Shin, this is their doing and they will live with what happens on the planet until they are called into service" Old Kai was in the same room; in fact he seldom left Shin, they were good friends

Kibito came in and spoke

"Old Kai is right Shin, you must not trouble yourself with what they do; they have endured worse" Kibito reasoned

"Yes, that is what scares me" Shin voiced his concern

Old Kai suddenly knew what Shin really meant: those boys had seen a great deal of death and violence in their short lifetime and they knew that kind of thing took it's toll, and even Saiyens had breaking points, Old Kai knew this and so did Shin

"So you're wondering when the boys will break?" he asked finally

"Yes.  Imagine it; all that anger, hurt and pain all being released and turned to energy, and the emotional attachments they have made won't help at all" Shin explained

"What do you mean master?" Kibito wasn't following the whole thing

"I mean Kibito, if something happens to either of those girls, then Earth will feel the fury of the Sayiens and mercy will not be given" he explained further

"I am worried about Trunks most of all" Old Kai added

"Why is that?" Kibito was not at all on par today

"Well, Goten was always expressive, even after his family were gone, it's in his nature to show emotion.  Trunks on the other hand had Vegeta for a father and while that can be an advantage in some ways" he began

Kibito nodded, urging the Old Kai on

"It also made him very proud and like his father, was only very expressive in select company; his mother, father and sister, and with Goten to a lesser extent.  Otherwise, he has kept it all to himself and if he's been as affected as Goten, then Trunks is a very unstable powder keg waiting to go off" Old Kai finished

Shin snorted ruefully

"And then may we all have mercy upon Earth, because Trunks won't" he said

Later on, Old Kai went to watch Trunks from the viewer and began to observe his dreams

[This seems a nightmare] he said to himself as he watched the carnage play out in the young warrior's head

**************

Trunks was indeed having a nightmare:

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Majin Buu was fighting him and winning, on the battlefield lay the bodies of Earth's finest warriors: Asuka, Shinji and his friend Goten.  He himself was in Super Saiyen 3 and still being tossed around like a rag doll.  The Rei came to help him, he knew it was her but she was different: Rei's body glowed white and her hair was silver and a pair of great blue wings were on her back, the epitome of angelic power

"We fight together" she said and helped him up, Trunks nodded

The pair turned on Buu and attacked him, blasting and belting with all that they had, but it was all in vein.  He beat them down

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Old Kai was sure they were dead

"Oh dear" he said and put his head in his hands

Then something happened.  Old Kai felt a power spike, the likes of which he had never sensed.  He looked to the viewer and saw something incredible

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

The energies of Rei and Trunk's bodies had combined, much like a fusion while they were motionless on the ground.  The energy formed a being of light with great wings and the hair of a Super Saiyen 3.  Old Kai was nearly overwhelmed by the power he could feel, even though this being was a figment of someone's imagination.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Upon comparing it to Buu's power level from memory, it became clear that Buu was nothing to this fighter: he was the fusion of Saiyen and Angel created a being of such immense power that it could destroy the galaxy on a whim.

"Such a fighter would be a blessing against Buu" Old Kai said

The warrior was about to step into the light but then the dream stopped: Trunks had woken up

"Wait… The Prophecy!' Old Kai cried and ran to a room in the Palace of the Kai's where scrolls were kept.

After rifling through them he found it: a piece of torn parchment that showed a fused being of two of the System of 6, it had no name other than 'The Union'.  Old Kai wished he had the rest of the parchment for it may shed some more light on the subject.  However, the picture of the being on the parchment matched that of the one he saw in Trunks's dream

"Well, Buu, you may find your doom on the planet Earth after all" he mused and sniggered

*******************

Trunks got up and saw that he was still in Rei's apartment: a situation though appealing, was rather inappropriate given the circumstances of their relationship

[Better move back this afternoon] he decided

Trunks gently shook the pale girl awake as he went to get changed

"What time is it?" she asked, getting up.

"It's…" Trunks didn't finish

Rei obviously was used to living alone, she was sleeping nude.  Before he was going to get caught staring, Trunks spun around quickly

[Evil thoughts Trunks.  Bad] he silently berated himself, although he could almost hear his father saying 'Quite a show you got', and he could even hear his response 'Shut up, old man'

"Is something wrong?" a soft voice cut through Trunks's thoughts

"Um, you're nude" he choked, gulping also

"Am I unattractive, is that why you've turned around?" Rei asked, not sounding hurt, although Trunks could feel it in her Ki that she was

"No, it's definitely not that, you're incredibly beautiful but, I was raised in such a manner that has given me a kind of modesty in dealing with nude women, unless we're, well, you know, I make it my business to give her privacy" he explained, knowing full he sounded like a dork

"So you are simply being respectful of my privacy" Rei pressed to make sure she had the point

"Yes" Trunks said, thanking all that was holy that she understood

"Thank you.  When we change, the commanders are usually watching us" she told him out of interest

Rei blinked when she saw his muscles tense at the mention of the commanders, but she had a feeling that the emotion that radiated off him like heat, hatred, was directed at Gendo and not Fuyutski, still, she was flattered by the concern.

Trunks made a quick escape up to his place and allowed Rei her privacy.  As he went, Rei couldn't help but smile at him; she even let out a small chuckle

**************

He slammed the door to the apartment, shocking Goten who promptly stuck his head out of the kitchen

"What the hell's wrong with you?" he asked, and took note of Trunks's attire: scuffled clothes, and he was sweating

"Ah, a quickie before school hey" Goten teased

"Fuck you" Trunks shot back and went for a shower

"That will be Asuka's pleasure alone buddy" Goten was quick to respond

Trunks said nothing; as he turned on his shower, ice cold.  The urge to just take Rei right then and there was very strong, an irritating side effect of his Saiyen genes.  Goten just chuckled and awaited the arrival of his friend so they could leave for school.

"Ah young love" he playfully mocked his friend's condition

Before long, Trunks was done and they left for school.  The pair met Rei on the way and Trunks fell into step with her, making glances at her along with smiles.  Which, Goten noted with satisfaction, Rei replied in kind.  Before reaching the gates, Shinji, Hikari and Asuka met up with them: they looked excited

"Hey guys, what's up?" Goten asked

"Goten, ya dope.  It's the Tournament today" Asuka cried

"Damn" Goten, Trunks and Rei cursed in unison

"Hmmm" Shinji just made noises

"We better go back and get our Gis" Trunks said

"I'll go, Rei.  Do you want your's?" Goten asked

Rei nodded and Goten pressed his fingers to his forehead as his father taught him and used the Instant Transmission.  Making even Trunks rise an eyebrow

"I hate when he does that" Asuka said and sat to watch the preparations: this was going to be a Tournament to remember

How right she was.

Once Goten returned with the Gis, they all went to their respective places and awaited being calling to the arena to fight as their names were drawn:

Arena 1

Match 1:  Trunks v/s Akira

Match 2:  Asuka v/s Hikari

Match 3:  Rei v/s Toji

Match 4:  Shinji v/s Tai

Match 5:  Goten v/s Mari

Match 6:  Takato v/s Lee

Match 7:  Ryoko v/s Tetsuo

Match 8:  Kana v/s Keiko

After seeing whom they were fighting, the group of friends went to eat.  Trunks was a little worried about Rei fighting Toji: he seemed to scare her and although he knew Rei could use Toji for a mop if she wanted to, if he held a psychological edge, it might be enough to defeat her

"Rei, how do you feel about your first bout?" Trunks asked

"Apprehensive, but I am confident in my abilities", she answered

Rei gave Trunks a small smile, her lips barely curved at all

"I have you to thank for that" she said and went to change into her Gi, leaving Trunks slightly dumbstruck

"Okay" he said to himself

************

After all contestants were changed, the ring announcer, an old man who used to box in Vegas addressed the crowd

"All right young fighters, are you ready?" he asked

"YEAH" they all, except Rei, chorused

"Well then, lets get our first contestants into the ring" he said and called out Trunks and Akira

The ring was a large stone platform raised about a foot off the ground with stairs.  As he got on, Trunks analysed his competition.  Akira was a big kid: 6'1 with lean and well-sculpted muscles and an air of confidence around him, of course he stood no chance against Trunks, but Trunks felt it was good to see a person who knew that if they were beaten, they were beaten

"Okay lads, shake hands and move to your ends of the ring", the old boxer said

They shook hands

"Hold nothing back Trunks, I want a good fight" Akira said

"I'll do my best to accommodate you" Trunks replied

They exchanged bows in traditional form and went in the opposite direction until there was roughly 12 feet between them and took a ready stance.  Akira was a very distinct user of Shaolin Kung-Fu, but no one other than Goten recognised Trunks's style

"Fighters ready, begin" the announcer said and jumped from the ring

At first neither fighter moved but Akira went for a lightning strike at Trunks, but Trunks moved before he could hit him.  Then as quick as Akira could, he began to throw punches and kicks in all directions, but Trunks dodged every one of them

"This is boring" Goten whined and lay down on the bleachers

Goten wasn't the only one to think the fight was rather poor

"Grrr, stop moving and fight damn it" Akira said

"Okay" Trunks said and speed around behind Akira and kicked him in the bends of the knees, and as he fell, Trunks delivered a firm but non lethal strike to the head, knocking his opponent out

"Ah, winner by knock-out, Trunks" the referee said and had medics come and carry the unconscious Akira off the ring

Trunks slowly walked down the stairs and went to sit with his friends.  Everyone made a kind of circle around him as he walked, they all feared him now, not that he minded.  He sat down beside Rei

"Next match, Asuka Langley Soryu and Hikari Horaki" the announcer called.

Asuka and Hikari made their way down to the ring, as Trunks and Akira before them, they exchanged a handshake and bows, then they each took a stance and waited for the match to officially begin

"Begin!" the Ref said

Asuka and Hikari leapt at each other with gusto and their forearms connected, each of them unwilling to give an inch in the fight.  This pose continued for a bit until they jumped back and then began to build a small energy blast

"Ha!" Asuka yelled and threw hers

Hikari deflected it, jumped and threw her own in response and then tried to get behind Asuka to grab her, she succeeded

"Ready to give up, Asuka?" Hikari asked as she held Asuka in a restraining position

"Not on your life sweetie" Asuka mocked and jumped up, breaking the hold and landed behind Hikari, and quickly kicked her the back of the legs, making her fall down.

Not one to be easily beaten, Hikari turned the attack to her advantage and flipped onto her feet and the pair began exchanging punches again, at rate no one had ever seen before.  Trunks analysed what his friend had taught them

"You have taught them very well" he complimented

"Well when your father is Goku and your brother is Gohan, there isn't much you don't pick up" he replied a little smugly

The fight was still going well for either girl, all it would take on either side was one small mistake and then one would have the other where she wanted her.  It took nearly twenty minutes of rather spectacular (by human standards) fighting for it to happen: Asuka had Hikari near the edge of the ring and was going to knock her off, but one foot was incorrectly placed and Hikari swept Asuka off her feet with a trip, and before the other girl could right herself, Hikari jumped and planted a powerful kick in Asuka's back and sent her into the ground.

There was much cheering and clapping for both girls: they had fought long and hard, it was a great match

"Well let's hear it for both competitors for giving us a marvellous show of skill, determination and power" the announcer said, another mighty cheer rose from all assembled

Asuka and Hikari shook hands and went and sat down with their friends, they were dripping in sweat and were very tired

"Asuka, you…are…one hard…fighter", Hikari panted as the ever-thoughtful Shinji wiped her forehead with a wet towel

"You…aren't so bad…yourself" Asuka replied and told Goten it was a massage or his life tonight, and then asked for a towel

"Yes ma'am" he replied and went to fetch the requested item.

****************

The Referee got onto the stage again after tending to some results and the draw

"Okay, third match, Rei Ayanami and Toji Suzaharra" he announced

Rei stood and began to walk towards the ring, then she stopped and pecked Trunks on the cheek, but as quick as a flash; he got up, spun her around kissed her on the lips, in front of everyone

"Fight well, I know you have the power", he said

"I will" she promised and continued on her way to the ring, her apprehension lessened

Hikari and Goten smiled while Asuka and Shinji did their impressions of stunned mullets; as a smirking Trunks sat down to watch the fight.

[Grind the little bastard into dust] Trunks thought as the two met on the ring

This would be a good fight.

****************

Toji looked at Rei: she was a lot more relaxed for this fight than she was last time she entered a competition like this, and she seemed stronger

"Well, let's see if you can make it past the first round this time" Toji said

Rei said nothing and took her stance; the same kind that Trunks used.  Toji snorted and assumed a Karate position and awaited the Referee to say fight.

"Fight!" the ref cried

Toji moved first and went for a knee strike at the stomach, Rei blocked

"What?" Toji was confused: Rei never had the speed, let alone the power needed to block one of his moves.

His thoughts were interrupted by a very painful impact to the face from a fast moving object: Rei's fist.  Toji flew back and landed on his backside.  Most of the crowd gasped at the sight of a senior being beaten by a junior, Rei no less.

"You're training her certainly yielded positive results" Asuka noted: she'd never seen Rei move so fast

"Most of the credit must go to her, after all, I can only teach but she must implement the training" Trunks deferred the praise

Back in the arena, Rei was making short work of Toji, but he wasn't a champion for no reason.  Rei went in for a hammer blow with both her hands, leaving her open, in this instant, Toji discharged an energy wave, at a distance of less than 2 feet.  Rei was immersed in the energy.  People began to stand up and shout with panic, Trunks didn't though

"It'll take more than a piss weak shot like that to stop her" he said and waited for the dust to clear

When it did, Rei was still standing, her Gi had been a bit burnt but she was otherwise uninjured.  She lowered her arms that were in a defensive position and drew her hand back; and then began to gather energy in it.  It was dark purple and Goten recognised it instantly

"Gallic Gun, you taught her that move?" he asked

"Yes, I did" Trunks answered

Rei was still gathering energy in her hand while Toji analysed the attack: it seemed straight forward enough for him to either dodge or deflect.  And judging by what was going on with Rei, unless she hit him with this wave, then she was out of power and he could attack when she was tired.  So with that plot in mind, Toji got ready.

"Gallic Gun!" Rei cried and threw the ball

Toji dodged it easily; and while Rei was panting he raced forwards and knocked her down: they were near the edge of the ring, all Toji had to do was toe her in the ribs and she was out.  Rei smiled and waved her arm in a 'come hither' motion, Toji thought she was being silly, until the energy wave hit him and knocked him out of the ring and making Rei the winner of the match


	9. Rei's Emergence

Everyone was stunned, well, everyone except Trunks of course who stood up and yelled his support of Rei and clapped, this soon encouraged the crowd to do the same, until a huge applause was in swing for Rei's victory against the odds.  Smiling slightly and blushing a bit, Rei made her way back to her friends and sat down, the applause still ringing in her ears

"You did very well Rei, you should be very proud" Shinji complemented her

"Yeah, I've been waiting for someone to put that oaf in his place" Asuka called

"I agree with them all and more, you showed extraordinary skill and great cunning in battle, you are a great warrior" Goten added

Rei looked at Trunks and waited for his bit of praise

"I knew you'd win.  That idiot down there never stood a chance against you; never has and never will" Trunks thought long and hard before answering

This one comment meant more to Rei than all the praise of her peers

"Thank you" she said and looked to the ring for the next battle

The Ref called the names of the next two fighters

"Shinji Ikari and Tai Araki, please report to the ring," he said

Shinji stood up and patted his sides

"Well that's me guys, I'm off to claim glory and victory" he said and jogged to the ring where he met his opponent

"So you're Shinji," the voice said in a condescending tone

"So you're a dick" Shinji shot back and climbed onto the ring

Tai growled and swore under his breath as he too climbed on to the ring.  The Ref went through the quid-pro-quo before telling each fighter to go to his corner.  The gong was hit and the match was on

Tai charged fast, but Shinji was faster and sidestepped, and then gave Tai a rather painful knee in the gut, doubling his opponent over.  Shinji stepped to the side and allowed Tai to get up, taunting him

"Is that all you got?" Shinji asked

Tai growled and got up and began to throw punched and kicks at Shinji, who simply dodged them by moving the top half of his body; his feet did not move

"Stop playing with me, I came for a fight", Shinji mocked as he continued to dodge the attacks

"Then fight back", Tai snarled

"Okay" Shinji said, grabbed Tai's next punch and spun his body so he elbowed Tai in the stomach and hit his face with the same arm by flinging it up

The punch had enough power in it to knock Tai out; the older boy fell to his knees and went down hard, like a sack of cement.  A still shocked Ref declared winner and allowed Shinji to return to the waiting area while medics took the unconscious Tai to the infirmary for treatment.

While sitting on the bleachers, Rei turned to Trunks

"By the way, thank you.  Last night when you went to see the commander, agents came and made me listen to the conversation," Rei said

"Oh?" Trunks questioned

"Yes.  Thank you again for standing up for me" she said, blushing

"Well, I love you and I'm not going to let some insect threaten your life" he said and grasped her hand

Match number 5 was announced and it's fighters called to the ring

"Goten Son and Mari Izumi" Ref asked

Goten shrugged and left Asuka in the middle of one of his now famous massages and went to the ring to confront his adversary: a 14 year old girl

"Ref what the fuck is this?" Goten was insulted by this arrangement

"It's how the draw was done buddy, take it or forfeit," the Ref answered

"Fine" Goten growled and looked at the girl: she seemed timid

[Better not scare her] he decided and zipped behind her and hit a pressure point on her neck, knocking her unconscious

Trunks tried hard not to laugh at the whole thing but failed and allowed a few chuckles to escape from his mouth, Asuka and Hikari did likewise while Shinji just let fly with huge guffaws of laughter, only Rei remained silent

"Winner by the fasted knock out I've ever seen, Goten Son," the Ref said: the match had been going for 12 seconds

A very disgruntled Goten jumped down from the arena and went to sit with Asuka again.  Most of them were still chuckling at Goten's expense.  Pouting, Goten sat beside Asuka and began to grumble about that fight being an insult to his pride

"How could they pair me with a child, a girl no less.  At least they could have made sure she was like you three, brave" he said

Asuka patted his back

"There, there Goten, I'm sure your next opponent will be better" Asuka assured him

There were three relatively boring fights after Goten's, each of the fighters showed a bit of skill but it was noting impressive at all, the pilots and Saiyens got board, Hikari however kept herself occupied by going to speak with other people: she was here for fun but the others were serious contenders.  The boredom was broken by some words from the Ref

"Ladies and gents, the Quarter Finals are about to begin: will Hikari Horaki and Trunks Briefs report to the ring for their match" he announced

Hikari gulped a little as she stepped into the ring and looked at Trunks: he had a small smile on his face that she couldn't place the emotion behind.  She shook his hand and prepared herself for a crushing defeat

"Don't hurt me," Hikari muttered

"I won't" Trunks replied

"Thanks" she said dryly and went to her area to take ready stance

Hikari's stance was definitely Kami-Zenin style, a little low level but for someone who'd done it only a week or two, it was good and not as sloppy as most would make it look.  Trunks smiled and thought about the best and least humiliating way for her to lose.

[I'll just knock her out of the ring] he decided and readied himself for the first blow

Hikari flung herself towards Trunks with a mighty roar and delivered a viscous blow to the head with her foot: the blow would have felled a lesser warrior or killed an ordinary man.  Hikari got a slightly scared look when she realised that her kick hadn't hurt Trunks in the slightest.  Trunks was just grinning while Hikari stood with her foot buried in his neck

"Nice technique, a little slow but no one's perfect" he said

Trunks then softly, (for him), flat palm struck Hikari in the chest, sending her flying back across the ring and skidding to a halt.  He then nonchalantly walked over and kicked her out of the ring.  Hikari was relieved; she knew that Trunks could pulverise her without trying it and being casually toed out of the ring was the last way she expected him to use to beat her.

"Oh well, I got out with all my bones intact" she said to herself while getting up and returning to the stands to her friends and Shinji.

After all the usual things from the ref, the second Quarter Final was match was called

"Rei Ayanami and Shinji Ikari, report to the ring please" the speaker bellowed

"Well, that's us" Shinji said to Rei as he jogged down to the arena

Rei was more reserved about her entrance and walked slowly downstairs to join her friend

"Fight well" Goten called, Asuka and Hikari chiming in too

"Be prepared to accept defeat, Shinji" Trunks called and smiled at Rei, his soul mate

Goten turned a puzzled look upon his friend

[You're hiding something from us Trunks, I wonder what it could be?] Goten wondered

The usuals were performed on the ring and the match was opened.  All parties knew this would be a good match.  Shinji went first and began blitzkrieg strikes at Rei.  But she blocked them, each and everyone was blocked and it began to annoy Shinji.

"Come on Rei, I know Trunks has trained you.  Show me if you're better" he requested

"Okay" she answered and punched him hard in the stomach, making him stagger back

"Ooooh, now this is more interesting" Shinji said and powered up as much as he could; for a human it was an impressive power level, nearly u p to a 3rd class Saiyen

Trunks just smirked wider and waited: all Rei had to do was tap the resources like he taught her, and Shinji would be carted off that ring in a stretcher, no matter what

[Go on; show him] Trunks thought

As if Rei heard his request, she gave that small smile Trunks was usually favoured with it spread across her face; she squatted, concentrated and then, they felt for the power

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH" the usually quiet Rei screamed as she powered up, her level quickly surpassing that of Shinji and most of the crowd put together

"Holy shit!" Hikari gasped at the magnitude of Rei's power

"Kai-O-Ken 20" Rei said and a red field surrounded her, breaking up part of the ring

****************

The crowd weren't the only ones to sense this power; Gendo was able to feel it, and it disquieted him immensely: but he knew that if acted rashly then the whole thing would fall apart at the seams.

"I'll use the very interesting information Mr. Aide got for me.  I'll have my best men analyses at it and construct some kind of suppressor" Gendo reasoned that if he could control Trunks, then he could control Rei

He picked up his phone and dialled the operator of Nerv and asked to be put through to the special weapons division; after a few minutes the head of said division answered the phone

"This is Yamaki," he answered

"Yamaki, this is the commander" Gendo began

"Sir!" Yamaki snapped to attention

"I will be sending some details to you; I want your best bio-chemists to look over it and try to devise a neutralising agent for it" he started

"I'll need physical and computerised samples, sir" Yamaki said

"They will be provided" Gendo assured him

"Very well sir, we'll begin work as soon as the samples arrive" the man responded

Gendo simply hung up and allowed his evil smile loose on the small private room he was in, momentarily forgetting about the power surge from his 'weakest' pilot

*********************

Goten stared slack jawed at this spectacle and then turned his attention to Trunks

"You knew", he said

"All along, amigo" Trunks replied and watched as Rei began her attack

Shinji had no chance as Rei zipped in at him, striking hard and fast every time and making him feel each blow.

[Where in the hell did she get all this power?] Shinji wondered as he was kneed in the guts

He fell to the ring floor groaning and Rei walked over to him, in a strange dainty sort of way

"This situation is interesting: not more than a few weeks ago you said I would never be as strong as you" she began

[If I didn't know better I'd say you were taunting me] Shinji thought

"But due to someone who saw something in me, of which not even myself saw or even dared to bring it out, you have now been defeated by me" she finished

Shinji looked up and he realised that it was true: no one really had faith in Rei's ability as a Ki warrior: but Trunks had come along and brought her power to forefront; making her stronger than Asuka, Hikari and himself combined.  Gone was the weak Rei he met a few weeks ago, now a powerful and formidable Rei stood before him.  She was now a force to reckoned with

"I see" he croaked and staggered to his feet

Rei decided that the match was over: she'd proved her point and made quick knee strike into Shinji's guts, jumped up and with a spinning kick motion, shot him out of the ring and into the ground

"Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!" the Ref cried: the crowd went wild

"YEAH REI!" Trunks cried louder than anyone else in the whole school

Shinji blinked and opened his eyes, slightly stunned.  Rei was leaning over him offering him a hand to help him up; he took it

"Thanks" he said and with her help, got up.

As those two made their way back to the seating area, the dreaded noise of Tokyo3 blared across the city, making all that heard it look up in terror

"Asuka, we need to go" Shinji said and along with Rei, turned and ran to the nearest entry to Nerv

As the other children evacuated to their shelters: Goten and Trunks went to the hills to wait and watch.  They saw it once on the peak of the hill: a giant diamond shaped creature; a definite change from the one from last time: the 5th Angel was here, and his name was Ramiel, Angel of Thunder.

*****************************

Author's Note:  This was a filler chapter before bringing in the 5th Angel.  Thanks to Drakon for pre-reading this chapter and pointing out some OOC-ness with the characters: he was a great help


	10. Defeated by Ramiel

As the pilots reached the cages: Misato stopped them for a chat

"So, how did the tournament go?" she asked

"Well, Shinji and I both got our butts kicked, Rei made it through to the semi-finals though" Asuka said, grumbling a little

"Really, that must have been lucky for her" Misato said

Rei's eyes narrowed at the words, they made it seem as if her new skills were meaningless

"It was not luck, captain.  It was the right kind of training from the right person" she said and brushed past Misato and onward to her Eva; she was backup

"She's right Misato, if Rei had fought harder than she did, then medics would have been peeling me off the ground with a spatula" Shinji said

Misato took all this in: last Ki level check she'd seen; Rei was the weakest, even small children had larger Ki than her.  And now Shinji just told her that Rei thrashed him to within an inch of his life.  Misato knew what was going on, she just wished she didn't

"Right, okay, to your Evas" she ordered crisply; the two complied quickly

Misato then went to her own post in the command centre, awaiting orders from commander Ikari as to the course of action

"Deploy the Evas" Gendo ordered

"Sir.  Okay, deploy Unit 1 two kilometres due East of the Angel.  Unit 2 is to be deployed at the opposite end to Unit 1" Misato instructed

"Yes ma'am" Aoba replied and sent the Evas to the appropriate catapults for the launch pattern

"Okay.  There is basically no data on this thing so tread with caution" Misato spoke to Shinji and Asuka

"Okay" Asuka said

"FAB" Shinji joked

Misato shook her head and ordered the launch; she turned at the sound of Shiguru sniggering

"And what is so funny, lieutenant?" she asked

"I get the joke, it's from Thunderbirds" he said and went about his work again

The commander watched from his place at the banter his crew engaged in: behind him was his friend, Kouzou Fuyutski, military man, teacher and mentor all in one lifetime

"So, this is Ramiel" Fuyutski said, eyeing the diamond pyramid Angel

"Yes" Gendo said and watched as each Eva shot up from its catapult

Just at that point, the Angel's small middle section began glowing and energy registers began to flash

"We're registering a high energy reaction inside the Angel!" Maya cried

"What?" Misato asked in shock

"The energy is amassing and multiplying upon itself" Aoba checked another console

"Oh shit", Ritsuko said as it dawned upon her what was happening

****************

Eva 1 shot up in its position as Misato sent a message to Shinji

"Duck!" the radio screeched

"Huh?" Shinji muttered

As he looked towards the Angel, he saw a beam of energy come for him.  But using his fighter reflexes, Shinji dodged the beam

"Shit" he muttered

Asuka saw this and wondered why the Angel hadn't shot her yet

"Hmm, maybe it can't fire at multiple targets" she mused

Asuka picked up a rifle and fired it at the Angel, but the A.T. Field was too powerful for the small gun

The Angel sensed Asuka's Eva and stopped firing at Shinji and began to shoot at Asuka, leaving Shinji alone

Shinji got up and charged the Angel but ended up landing on his backside hard, the field was so powerful that it acted like a spring when he hit it

"That sucked", he groaned and got up, as he did though, the Angel fired

The beam struck Shinji in the upper chest and sent him flying across the city and into a building.  Upon impact, Shinji hit his head on the wall of the plug, knocking him unconscious.  Meanwhile Asuka used this small timeframe in which the Angel fired to jump on top of it.  She drew her knife and tried to stab Ramiel, but it shot a smaller beam through the top of itself, going through Eva 2's body and exiting through the shoulder.  Asuka grit her teeth in pain and slid a bit, the Angel fired again and this time the beam went through her thigh, she fell off after that.

"Launch Unit 0; Rei's orders are to retrieve the other Evas" Gendo said

"Sir" Misato said and relayed the instructions to Rei in Unit 0

"I understand" she replied and prepared to launch

Asuka managed to get behind a building and take cover with her rifle

"Goddamn son of a bitch" Asuka cursed as she reloaded the rifle and fired again

**********************

Rei's Eva arrived at the hilltop near Shinji and picked his Eva up, and clamped Unit 1 to her restraints and sent it back down.  Rei looked and saw Asuka; the nearest entrance for an Eva was a few miles from her.  Rei was thinking how to help Asuka when a plan suddenly formed itself in front of her eyes

"Okay, here we go" she said to herself and jumped

The Angel, sensing Unit 0, turned its attention to it, leaving Unit 2 free to escape.  Although Asuka's pride usually wouldn't let her run, she had no choice in this case and used her one good leg to spring towards the retrieval bay, just making it by a whisker as Rei ducked somewhere and the Angel tried to fire at Unit 2 again.  Rei had accomplished her mission but knew she now had to get _herself_ out of this mess.  Rei spied a large girder on the ground.  With few options left to her, she threw it in the hope that the Angel would target it.  Her hopes however proved unfounded and it did not attack

"It must be smart enough to distinguish from moving objects and hostile targets somehow", she said to herself

Rei had to think quickly or she was screwed.  Fortunately for Rei, she was smart

"Captain.  I have a plan but I need some help," Rei radioed in to base

"I'm listening" Misato replied

"I want you to fire as many of the city defence weapons as you can: it will distract the Angel long enough for me to escape" Rei explained

"Okay, you heard her, let fly with everything we got" Misato barked

The crew were quick to respond to her orders and soon the Angel was being bombarded with all the conventional artillery Tokyo 3 had to offer.  Rei saw the Angel was distracted enough to ignore her and she made a break for it.  The elevator was a few miles away, three or four long strides and she'd cover it no problem.  Ramiel was a little smarter than she gave him credit for though and shot her in the back of the left arm just as she reached the lift

"Aaaagggghhhhhhh" she screamed, the arm being thinner than the rest of her Eva it went right through her arm

"GET HER DOWN!" Misato bellowed

"Ma'am" Maya was quick off the mark and let the lift freefall until Rei was totally underground and then put the brakes on

"Captain.  I want as much data on this Angel as you can gather.  Then it is your main duty to find a way to combat this Angel" Gendo ordered.  He then got up and went to his office

"Yes sir" Misato replied

***************

Hikari, Goten and Trunks made their way through the hospital hallways to the area where the pilots were kept until a pair of burly Section 2 agents blocked their way

"You may proceed no further," the biggest one said

"Try and keep me from Rei and you will lose something you may wish to later rely on in bed" Trunks said and sidestepped the man

"Hey, kid" the same one put his hand on Trunks's shoulder

"You have 5 seconds to remove that hand or I will remove it" Trunks never liked being told what to do: he obeyed when necessary

This was not however one of those times and Goten knew this guards was skating on dangerously thin ice with hot blades

"1" Trunks began counting

"Security to pilot ward" his partner radioed the main station

"2" he continued

"Trunks, don't be a fool", Goten warned

"3" Trunks went on unhindered

As security men came running up the stairs, Ritsuko looked through a curtain and saw that things were about to get ugly

"Oh hell" she groaned and jogged over

"Its okay, they're with me, and she is the 3rd Child's girlfriend" Ritsuko explained

"Then what relationship do these two have with the pilots?" the other agent asked

"None of your fucking business" Trunks snapped, he had stopped counting and moved on towards the room where Rei was

"Agent, let me give you some free advice: if you see these two young men with any of the pilots: steer clear, do not get involved.  It's beyond our authority" Ritsuko whispered in the man's ear

"Why?" he asked, incredulous as to someone with more authority than Nerv

"Piss either of them off and find out, but only at your own peril" Ritsuko answered and turned around

Goten and Hikari just strolled through the doors trying to be as small as possible

"Does he always try and start a fight?" Hikari asked

"Usually, unless someone who he really respects gets him to calm down" Goten said

"Doesn't that reflect how much he respects you?" Hikari asked

"No not really, I've never taken his advice, we just ignore each other in that respect" Goten replied

"Oh I see" Hikari said

Each one of the visitors went to their respective other half's room; Rei's was bit up the hallway.  As Trunks approached it: he saw a duty nurse

"Is this Rei Ayanami's room?" he asked

"Yes.  Are you a visitor?" she asked, somewhat excited

"Of course, why wouldn't I come and see my girlfriend?" Trunks asked

The nurse chose that moment to stutter incoherently at Trunks

"You, you, you're her, boyfriend?" she stuttered

"Yes" Trunks reiterated

[The woman must be mad] he thought and slipped into the room

Rei was on the bed listening to her Discman, nodding her head slightly to the beat of the song.  Trunks sat down beside the bed and waited: she knew he was there; he was just content to watch her and Rei content to let him do that.  The now recovered nurse poked her head into the room for an inspection: Trunks had grasped one of Rei's hands and was smiling, and so was Rei.

[Oh that is so cute] the nurse thought with giddiness as she rushed off to find her friends and show them all what a good piece of fortune had befallen the girl they looked out for

*********************

Just outside the hospital, a man in non-descript clothing or average frame and build and features walked towards the hospital in which the pilots lay.  It was his mission to make sure that the next hospital room any of them visited was the morgue.  He grinned slightly to himself as he felt the small ninja knife under his shirt and the silenced 9mm in his coat pocket.

[They are protected, but if my source is right, it's only a few of those dopey goons-for-hire] he thought and let out a twisted little laugh

Indeed the man was right: they were guarded by goons-for-hire, but they were also guarded by something he never expected to encounter.  This guy was going to wish he had never accepted this task.


	11. Do I Feel Lucky?

Later that night, the man sat on a bench outside the hospital and looked at the plans of the hospital he had gained from the Internet and saw that the room that held one of the pilots was the last one before a small service elevator at the end of the hallway it was on.  The way he figured it out, he could go into the service area and go up to the floor and he could kill them without difficulty

"My mission will be over soon" he said to himself and folded up the map and put it away

The man got up and made his way to the service area: ducking into a small closet he changed into a serviceman's uniform so he would be incognito and harder to detect.  He quietly made his way into the service area and down the proper corridors: no one stopped him or questioned him because he looked like he belonged there

"Okay, down this hallway, turn left and the lift should be there", he muttered to himself as he approached his goal

After another fifteen minutes of walking he came to the elevator that his blueprints had shown him: it was slightly smaller than he was but not by much.  Smiling, he climbed into the lift and pressed the button for level 9: the pilot level.

"This is the place" he muttered and got out of the elevator: it was dark aside from the dim overhead lights

He quietly padded across the floor to the first room: Rei's.  He looked and saw that the pilot appeared to be sleeping on her side.  All he had to do was stick the knife in the right place and she'd die instantly, no pain or noise.  The man allowed a small insane smirk to cross his face as he drew the knife from his jacket and prepared to plunge it into Rei's neck

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", a soft voice said

"What!" the man was shocked that she had heard him come in

"If I chose to, I can get up, go over to you, kill you and be back in bed in a space of less than ten seconds" Rei said and rolled over to face her would be assassin

She stared at him with the coldest look she could muster: it chilled the man to the very bones in his body and he began to walk backwards a little, his resolve faltering

"You are killing the messengers of God, this is his will, as he did with the Earth when he asked it of Noah to build an Ark" the man, obviously religious ranted

"I got news for you, fool.  God isn't asking you to do this" another voice joined the fray

The assassin looked behind him to be greeted with glowing green eyes and a fiery yellow field

"I know God; he's a blue midget in a Gi with a white mo-hawk hairdo; and those things ain't his messengers" Trunks hissed and made the man fall over.

Trunks leaned over him now and grinned, showing his white teeth

"Now you have to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky?" he did a very good imitation of Dirty Harry

At about that time, Nerv's Rent-A-Goon came running in with pistols drawn and a nurse in pursuit, Trunks quickly powered down to normal

"Wow, he's only been in the room, 7 minutes.  That's pretty good guys.  But I for one am really glad Rei here can look out for herself" Trunks stood mocking the Section2 guards: no one except Rei was still watching the man

The guards sauntered away muttering something about 'kicking arse' and 'arrogant little brats'.  Trunks smirked at the words: he was glad the guards hated him, kept them from getting to close to him, and ergo in some fashions, to close to Rei.  However, the would-be assassin on the ground was not quite as stupid as one might guess.  He reached inside his jacket pocket and pressed a small button.  Then, a rhythmic beeping began

"Fools, I have just depressed the fuse on a bomb: there is enough TNT on my back to blow out this entire floor, and then the residual effects will cause a bit of strife too" he gloated.

Trunks sprung over and ripped the jacket open and saw a timer on the lining: it read 5 seconds

"Oh shit" he thought and ran to put himself in front of Rei.

At that moment however, Trunks felt time slow around him and he saw Rei holding her arm up and point it at the man, an orange glowing field surrounded his body, so when the explosive went off, all it blew up was him.  Trunks felt the space and time continuum go back to normal and he looked over at Rei: she was glowing white, almost blinding alabaster but it lasted only a few seconds and then she collapsed from fatigue

"Hidden powers indeed.  That was phenomenal" Trunks said

What he had just witnessed was a living mortal slow down the very fabric of time and bend it to her will, then use some kind of powerful field to cover the assassin and stop his bombs killing anyone but himself: a feat he had never thought possible.  Although Ki shields were usable, a fully enclosed field around another individual like Rei's he'd never seen before: it's Ki signature was also very odd, but it was hers alright, of that he was sure

"I have a feeling that when this power is fully released and controlled, she will become the most powerful being on this planet, maybe even more so than Goten and I" Trunks allowed a devilish grin to cross his face

His father had chosen a very good woman for a wife, and it seemed to Trunks that he had done even better: his soul mate was not only smart, but with training, she would be as powerful as him; a prospect he found very intriguing.

The Nerv goons returned to the room and to Trunks's surprise, did not demand to know why Rei was asleep and why there was a large scorch mark and pile of blood and gore on the ground where an assassin should have been, in fact they missed it totally, as if it never happened and no one knew of it.  Once they left, Trunks took care of the 'remains' by zapping them into nothingness quick smart.

"I have to ponder this further" he decided and went to leave

Trunks didn't want to leave with out giving Rei a sort of sign that he had been there, so he flew out of the window and went to a garden and picked a rose, a blue one.  Smiling at his simple message, Trunks flew back to the hospital and laid it on Rei's pillow, and in a rare moment of softness, he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"I'll see you tomorrow" he whispered and left quietly, not noticing the small smile that spread across Rei's face.

*****************

The next day…

*****************

Asuka was grouchy: her leg would be fine but she was still really angry about retreating from the Angel.  Goten couldn't work out why, nor could Shinji or Hikari

"I swear, if I get my hands on that thing, ooh" she snarled, her voice trailing into thought

"Calm down Asuka" Goten pleaded

"No one tells Asuka Langley Soryu to calm down!" Asuka bellowed: this event had really worked her up

The four (Shinji, Goten, Hikari and Asuka) were in the lounge room in the civilian area of Nerv, some drinks and cake had been had while they waited for Misato to come back with a status report.  Goten could of sworn he sensed Trunks power up last night before he came home, but he dismissed it.  Misato finally arrived and sat down, with Ritsuko in tow

"First things first, sorry Goten, Hikari; you two have to go" Ritsuko said

"Why?" Goten protested

"Because this is highly sensitive information, now go" the scientist wasn't in the mood for arguments

Sulking, Goten and Hikari left the room, leaving Shinji and Asuka to be told the extent of what the Angel was doing

"Okay, our work is really cut out for us here: the Angel has begun drilling through the surface towards us in the Geo-Front" Misato said

"What?" the general chorus came out

"We need to get this one quick: Hyuga said that at the current rate of drilling the Angel will break through to the Geo-Front in 49 hours" Ritsuko added

"Oh well fuck me, I thought this was going to be hard" Shinji mumbled sarcastically

"Watch your language" Misato said as she sorted through some other papers

"Sucked in" Asuka gloated

"Asuka, don't forget I have heard what comes out of your mouth when you're angry" Ritsuko said, reminding everyone that Asuka had a bad potty mouth at times

After some other information was given out on its A.T. Field and other defences, Misato showed them a few videos of somewhat failed attempts to find a weakness, but Asuka was ever observant and had an idea

"Misato, how close do these target things have to get before the Angel attacks them?" she asked

"About 50 miles, why" she asked, while watching the tape again, for any weakness

"What if we tried to attack it with a long range weapon from outside that perimeter?" Asuka suggested

"What?" Ritsuko asked

"You know, like a sniper, get a gun with enough range and power behind it so we can blow its brains out from say, 60 miles, giving us a 10 mile safety window" she elaborated her idea

Misato smiled widely and phoned Hyuga, asking him to run a test that would gauge the strength of the A.T. Field of the Angel, she needed that if the plan Asuka put forward was going to work

"Asuka, have you ever thought of becoming a combat strategist?" Misato asked

Asuka puffed up with pride, Shinji looked on in a form disgust at the praise, he'd just seen Asuka's ego inflate a great deal

"Well, I am the great Asuka Soryu, you know" she said in a 'holier-than-thou' tone of voice

Ritsuko chuckled as Misato looked a little foolish; she leaned over to Shinji and whispered in his ear

"My 100 yen says that Asuka will still be rubbing the fact that she thought of the plan a week from now", she offered

"Deal, but the plan has to _work_ first" Shinji said and agreed to the bet

[I'll get you Ritsuko] Misato thought as her eyebrow twitched while Asuka continued to point out how good she was

*****************

Trunks was out wandering around the city: all school days were cancelled until the Angel was destroyed.  The Geo-Front was quite nice to walk in during the morning and he found it relaxing

[Still a few hours before visiting time starts at the hospital, then again] he thought and smiled as he prepared to fly to the hospital and let himself in through the window in Rei's room.  Before he could though, a voice shouted his name

"Trunks, that's right isn't it?" the man, about 31 asked

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Trunks shot back, eyeing the man with care

He was about 5'11 with slight stubble on his face, his long hair was tied back on a ponytail; a style Trunks had once taken.  He wore a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a red tie and pair of brown pants and shoes.  His smile was the kind that Trunks himself had, sexy, but this man's smile did not have the dangerous edge, his was more 'devil-may-care' and such

"The name's Kaji, I'm Misato's boyfriend", he explained and extended his hand

"And?" Trunks still didn't know what this guy wanted and ignored the hand

[Just like Misato said, colder than ice with a look to match] Kaji thought and withdrew his hand

"I just wanted to meet the young man fabled around Nerv with claiming the heart of one Rei Ayanami" Kaji said

"The fact she has someone she loves surprises you?" Trunks asked

"Well, yes it does.  See, Rei's always been a very lonely person-" Kaji was cut off

"Maybe like me she doesn't believe that there was anyone on this planet worth being around" Trunks snapped

Kaji, however wasn't offended by Trunks's remarks and took them in his stride

"Well, if that be that case Trunks, then that makes you very unique indeed" Kaji said and resumed to water the flowers he had

"I have another theory" he called after Kaji

"Oh?" the man said

"Yeah, maybe, like me again, she only lets those she really trusts, close to her, and I had the courage to try and earn that trust.  What say you?" Trunks called

"I still say it makes you unique Trunks, but also I think it makes you lucky" Kaji replied and resumed his task

Trunks smiled and flew away, leaving in a cloud of dust that covered Kaji

"Wow, she said he was strong, but shit, that's really strong" Kaji said and tried to track Trunks: he had no luck

************

Trunks was floating outside Rei's window, looking for a way to get in without damaging the window itself for it was locked

"Oh well, I'll just watch from out here" he said and settled into a reclining position in mid-air to keep a close watch on his lady love

As he did so, the nurse from yesterday came in with a few other nurses, both men and women and she pointed triumphantly the rose Trunks left last night, he listened to the conversation out of interest

"I told you that she had a boyfriend", the female nurse said

"Yeah, and how do we know you didn't put that there?" a male colleague said

"Because I saw him: he was about this tall, purple hair and really cute, lots of muscles too" she replied, indicating with her hand about an inch and a half above her own head to illustrate how tall Trunks was

"Well we'll tell you what, if he shows up by mid visiting time, then you've won, if not, you lose" another nurse said and they all went away, save the woman who stayed to check Rei's vitals

Trunks chose this moment to discreetly knock on the window: the nurse looked up and Trunks waved at her: she blinked a few times

"Hi, can you let me in?" he asked

"Uh, yeah, sure" she mumbled and opened the window, allowing Trunks to fly in and land almost silently on the ground

"If you want to win that bet, go grab your friends" Trunks said and sat down beside Rei's bed

The nurse nodded and hurried off to find them all so she could show them that she wasn't lying.  Trunks looked and saw the rose was a little wilted but still looked nice

[Do I feel lucky?], he asked himself and looked at the stirring form of Rei: he smiled

[Yeah, I do] he thought and smiled at her, grasping her hand again

"Hi" he said

Rei only smiled a little and drew his hand up to her face.  For some reason she liked how his hand felt: firm and smooth but very gentle if the situation called for it.  It was in that very same position that the nurses found them a few minutes later, all of them bar one stunned beyond belief.

[Oh yes, I feel very lucky indeed] Trunks finally felt it, the bond was nearly rock solid now: nothing would ever break it.


	12. Thunder VS Lightning

*********************

Hyuga's report came back that it would require at least 60 Terra-Watts of power to break through the A.T. Field.  Misato however simply smiled and said that she knew of a source of plentiful energy

"Captain; may I ask exactly what that source is?" Hyuga asked

"My dear young friend, we're standing on it," she said

Hyuga looked down for a minute

"The ground?" he asked sceptically

"No, Japan herself, take all the energy from all the power-stations and charge it into one weapon" Misato explained

"And where are we procuring this weapon?" Shinji asked as the two adults discussed plans for cables and sub-stations spanning the whole length of Japan

"Ritsuko is taking care of that with Asuka" Misato said off hand

Maya approached Misato with a report

"The progress of the drilling the Angel has under taken is slower than first thought.  But it'll still break through to the Geo-Front a little after midnight" she said

"Okay, we have a schedule to keep now; let's move it" Misato shouted

*******************

200 miles away, at a JSSDF Weapons Depot, Ritsuko, Fuyutski and Asuka were procuring said weapon

"We're here on behalf of Nerv to commandeer the new Positron Cannon for use against the Angels" Fuyutski handed the young lieutenant a piece of paper making sure he knew how high from the top that order came from

"Yes sir, but this is highly irregular" he said

"We'll try and return the weapon in the condition in which we received it" Ritsuko said and pulled out a radio

"Okay Asuka, grab the crates one by one" she said into it

"Roger" came the crackled reply

At that moment, the roof of the building was removed and Asuka, using her Eva, reached in and picked up the crates that held the parts for the sniper cannon and loaded them onto flat beds to take them back to Nerv

"Hey, watch it Asuka.  This shit is expensive" Ritsuko hollered down the radio

"How are we going on the substation and relay points?" Fuyutski asked

"Well, Misato has assured me that we're on schedule, in fact I heard from Matsusaka that the cables already stretch from one end of Japan to past her middle" Ritsuko said

"Good.  With a progress rate like that, we'll have the relays set up and still have a few hours to set up the Evas and weapon" he spoke to himself, but loud enough for Ritsuko to hear

*******************************

Rei was listening to Trunks recount seeing her powers; they sounded fantastical

"I slowed down time?" she asked, her voice level

"Yes, and then you placed some odd field that I didn't recognise around our stupid hit-man and let him blow himself up" he added

"Then why do only you and I remember it?" Rei asked

"Another of your powers appears to be the ability to manipulate a person's memory" Trunks put forward his theory

"Can I control these powers?" she asked, now very worried but Rei's voice remained level

"I think that these powers manifest only at times of high stress and emotional feeling, or danger" Trunks said

"What drew that theory?" Rei asked

"You perceived, rightly, that the assassin's explosives were dangerous to you and those around you.  To prevent the bomb harming people you awakened your dormant power and stopped him" he explained

Rei digested this possibility and looked out the window; she knew Nerv officials were coming to see her soon for a possible interrogation as to the failure against the Angel; normally she was apprehensive about the visits but never allowed that to be seen.  However, even with her bedridden state, she was still able to blow a small house up with her new strength

[And if I can't defend myself…] she looked at the now deep in thought Trunks

[We'll see how they fair against Trunks] she had to smile as she thought of the faces of the officials seeing Trunks transform

However instead of the usual people, Ritsuko and Misato came to see her: Ritsuko smiled at Trunks and said hello: Misato on the other hand, kept her distance from him.  In fact she could feel Trunks's gaze on her: his black eyes felt like missiles.  Rei saw that Trunks was making the captain uncomfortable and turned to him

"Stop that" she said, Trunks smiled and walked outside.  That left Misato a little confused

[I thought he was like, all powerful?], she couldn't work out why such a powerful being took orders from such a frail looking person

"Ritsuko; what just happened?" she asked

Rei chuckled at the captain's bemusement

"You have a lot to learn about my step sister, Misato" Ritsuko whispered and sat down

"Rei, I believe this is yours" Ritsuko said and handed the rose, now replaced by a fresh one

Rei blushed and took the rose, placing it beside the other one, which although wilted still looked nice: Misato looked on in awe: she'd never seen Rei blush before: and it seemed in some strange yet fitting way that something as simple as a rose would solve a problem she thought more complex than the Gordian Knot and then it finally well and truly hit home for Misato: Rei Ayanami, was in love

[And I couldn't even feel happy for her.  Asuka too] Misato felt a little ashamed that she'd only seen negative things about the presence of the two objects of the two female pilot's affections.

"Yeah, Shinji and Asuka are working on a plan as we speak to destroy the Angel; we may need your help, however if all goes to plan, you can remain behind and rest.  Despite his head knocking, Shinji's fine.  A fighter's head on his shoulder" Misato rambled a bit

"Misato, get to the point" Ritsuko sighed and winked at Rei

"Yeah; we're going to use, a high power sniper cannon to try and kill the Angel, Shinji will be on the gun, Asuka will be defence.  You will be back up" Misato said in short

"And?" Rei asked if there was any more information

"No, now if you'll excuse me: I have to go and humble myself" Misato said and went to find Trunks

After Misato walked out; Ritsuko burst out laughing, surprising Rei

"What is so funny?" she asked

"Misato has just realised that she was being unfair to some people and has gone to apologise" Ritsuko explained

"Oh.  Who was she being unfair towards?" Rei asked

"Well, Goten and your boyfriend" Ritsuko replied

"How was she being unfair towards them?" Rei asked

"Well she thought that you and Asuka were in danger from them.  The simple act of leaving a rose has convinced her otherwise on the matter in Trunks's case" was the answer Rei got

"Oh" was all the very confused Rei said

Misato found Trunks outside the hospital he was humming to himself while he sat on a garden wall.  Misato approached him carefully and quietly until she felt it was safe to get his attention

"Trunks" she said

Trunks lazily turned his head around to look at the captain and stared right at her, not deviating like most men did to other parts of her body but Trunks went straight to the eyes

"Is there something I can help you with?" he asked

"No, I came to, apologise to you" Misato said, already embarrassed to be apologising to a young boy

"Why?" Trunks didn't know Misato had done anything to him that warranted an apology

"Well, I kind of had my reservations about you, being who you are.  What you are and so on, I never actually gave you a chance to see what you were like normally" Misato wanted to dig a hole to hide in now

"Oh.  I see" Trunks said and got off the wall

"So yeah, sorry" Misato fumbled

Trunks had to chuckle a little at the behaviour of the human, it was most odd

"Don't worry about it" was all he said, until as he walked inside he drew parallel with Misato

"If you and Ritsuko want a demonstration of my power, meet me in the woods a few miles out of the city the night after the Angel is destroyed.  Feel free to bring the kids" he whispered and went back into the hospital to see Rei again

Misato thought for a minute and decided that she would take him up on that offer; Ritsuko would most likely join her also.  And as for the children, well, they'd tag along whether they were welcome or not.  She smiled wryly and got in her car to return to Nerv HQ

**********************

Asuka and Shinji were taking a sync test while waiting for Rei; she was being discharged in a few minutes.  Their sync rates were about level with each other at 79%

"Okay, now an accuracy test" Maya said

The pair were given light rifles and put up targets in the virtual range about the same thickness as the Angel's core, they had one shot to try and get it right

"Read; aim, and fire!" Maya said

They pulled the trigger and let loose a single shot.

Aoba pulled up the results and had laugh: although Asuka was the better pilot with more training than Shinji, Shinji was a lot more accurate with a weapon than she was by the look of this test

"Okay, run the simulation 5 more times, the one with most accurate shots is our gunner" Maya said to Hyuga

"Gotcha" he said and did as he was asked

The simulation was run, and each time, Shinji's accuracy improved while Asuka's just remained lousy.

As they got changed, Shinji gloated over the results to Asuka who was on the other side of the partition

"I thought you were an expert pilot, Asuka" Shinji said

"You're dancing with death little man" she warned

"And yet I was more accurate than you, shocking state of affairs" Shinji continued

"You must love flirting with danger" Asuka said, smiling over sweetly and cracking her knuckles

"Oh no, the one among us who flirts with danger is Rei" Shinji countered

"And you work that out, how?" Asuka asked

"She's Trunks's girlfriend isn't she?" he answered a question with a question

"So, Goten in my boyfriend.  They're the same type of person" Asuka said

"No, Goten is more like a big puppy and he's a nice guy.  Trunks on the other hand is like, a hawk.  His eyes are sharp at all times, and he's as dangerous as one too" Shinji reasoned

Asuka had to admit, Trunks made her a little edgy when she was near him without Goten.  But she also knew that he was sweet in his own way; she saw how happy he made Rei; and Asuka, despite her misgivings on the other girl, was going to let her be

"Fine, if you say so Shinji, but that little distraction isn't going to stop me from killing you when I get dressed" Asuka called out in that honey laced voice

"You'll have to catch me first" Shinji said and bolted out of the change room past Asuka, to show he had a head start

Asuka groaned as she remembered her dress often flew up in this place and running didn't help either.  Asuka wanted to catch and kill Shinji, but she wasn't about to give the under-sexed and most likely horny Nerv staff a free show.  So Asuka bided her time and resolved to get him when they got home later tonight

"I shall get you Shinji Ikari, just you wait" she said to herself, baring her teeth at the same time

At that moment, Rei walked in to get changed for her sync tests; Asuka said hello

"Soryu" Rei replied with a curt nod in a more light voice than she usually had

Asuka saw Rei place two roses on her locker shelf; Asuka had no problem working out whom they were from and just left Rei alone.  As she walked Asuka wondered if maybe that was half the problem that she had with Rei; she always wanted to be alone and never really participated in anything, until now.  She sighed; the next few hours would essentially decide if humanity would live or not

"I don't know why I'm bothering to go home, I may as well stay here and get ready for the operation" Asuka said to herself and went to one of the lounges that the base had.

******************

Shinji made his way to Hikari's house to tell her he loved her: he had this terrible feeling that something was going to happen tonight and he wanted her to know how he felt in case he didn't make it

"Think good thoughts Shinji, or else you may actually not come out of this ordeal unscathed" he said to himself

He approached the door and knocked on it, and after about half a minute, Kodama answered the door and blinked

"Shinji, what are you doing here?" she asked

"I need to speak to Hikari, please" he said

"Oh, ah, okay" Kodama said and went to find her little sister.

While she looked for Hikari; Shinji found Nozumi was looking at him with big brown eyes and blinking

"Hi" she said with a big smile

"Hi" Shinji returned the smile, although it wasn't as big

"Are you my sister's boyfriend?" she asked

"Which sister?" Shinji asked, smiling as he played along

"Hikari" Nozumi cried out after she thought for a minute

"Yes, I am Hikari's boyfriend.  My name is Shinji" he said

"You're cute.  I see why Hikari likes you" the young girl may only be in primary school, but she was still very clever

Shinji blushed

"Thank you" he said

"Nozumi, are you saying naughty things to Shinji?" Hikari asked as she approached the doorway

"No" she replied and walked off, but she whispered something in Hikari's ear before she left sight

'That's your job" she giggled and ran off before Hikari could catch her

Hikari shook her head and then shot Shinji a glare when _he_ started giggling at her

"And what is so funny, Mr. Ikari?" she asked

"You're sister, she's funny" he said after a few breathes

"Oh, and what am I?" Hikari asked, crossing her arms

Shinji looked up and down, taking every square inch of the girl in and analysing it and he came to a single conclusion, which he made known

"Enchanting" he said, making her blush

"You always did know how to sweet talk a woman" Hikari chuckled

Without wasting a second, Shinji stepped up to Hikari and kissed her, taking her by surprise.  Kodama walked past and saw this

"Oh get a room" she said

"Don't be mean" Kenji said and gave Shinji the thumbs up

Kodama dragged Kenji to another room before he could doll out his manly 'pearls of wisdom' on the subject of women.  Shinji broke the kiss but continued to hug Hikari, who was shaking her head at the antics of her siblings

"I love you" Shinji said

Hikari looked Shinji in the eye: she was glad he told her, but something was bothering him and she knew it.  Hikari ran a finger down his cheek

"Promise me something Shinji: never come and say goodbye to me, or I will kill you myself" she said to him

Shinji nodded and thought to himself for a minute, another quick reflection on his new role

"I'm making history Hikari" he said

"Be careful, or you just won't make history, you'll be part of it" she said

Shinji produced a long velvet box from his jacket pocket and handed it to Hikari

"I realised earlier today that it was our 2 year anniversary today" he said as Hikari opened the box

Inside was a gold necklace with a rose shaped pendant on it: Hikari drew in a short breath as Shinji helped her put it on.  It was a perfect fit

"It's beautiful, thank you" Hikari said and hugged Shinji again

Shinji looked at his watch: he had 2 hours left

"Okay, I gotta go now; I'll see you in a few hours" he said and began flying to a Nerv entrance

"You better not break that promise Shinji" Hikari called out

"I won't" he replied before he left her hearing range

***********************

In the mobile command unit on top of Mount Futago; Operation Mishima was put into action:

"Okay, Rei you're back up so if Asuka can't continue defending Unit 1, you step in with the axillary shield to continue" Misato said as she spoke

"Yes ma'am" Rei said

"Okay Shinji; you are the gunner: the rifle you're using is a modified canon and has all the power in Japan behind it, literally.  It also takes about a minute to recharge and cool, so the first shot has to count" Misato explained Shinji's role to him

"No problems" he replied

"Okay Asuka, as the main defence, you will have the shield we procured from the old Space Program.  If Hawkeye here misses, get your ass in front of him until the rifle is ready for firing again" Asuka, lucky last had her role explained

"Goody gumdrops" she muttered

"What was that?" Misato asked

"I said; affirmative" Asuka lied

"Okay, to your Evas" she ordered

Asuka and Shinji snapped to attention, saluted and in perfect unison, said

"Yes, Drill Sergent" over pronouncing the last part before bolting to the Evas

Misato's eye twitched as she watched them run and laugh, Rei silently jogged behind them.  The rest of the command crew watched in good humour at the action: if anything, those two just broke some serious tension among the crew and they needed it too.

******************

On Mount Futago, the three Evas sat and beside each one was a tower of scaffolding upon which a platform sat.  The pilot of each Eva sat on the platform for a few minutes before either one spoke

"Asuka, why do you pilot this thing?" Shinji asked

"Well, I don't really know.  When I was young they tested me in Germany, and I was the best candidate, so I was selected" Asuka replied

"What about your family; did they object to this?" he asked

"Not really, my mother was the principal designer of Unit 2.  Here, I'll show you" she beckoned him over

Shinji flew across to Asuka's platform and she pointed to a small engraving on the side of the head:

'Hope, for family, mankind and Asuka'

"She engraved that herself when no one was looking.  I think in her heart, she built it for me rather than the rest of the human race" Asuka said and chuckled

"I see" Shinji said and flew off, he was going to ask Rei the same question

He landed on the platform and saw that Rei was looking up in the sky; he craned his neck and saw a yellow light high up in the sky

"That Trunks?" he asked

Rei nodded and the turned her head towards her fellow pilot

"Is there something I can help you with, Pilot Ikari?" she asked

"I actually wanted to ask you why you pilot the Evangelion" he answered

"Oh" Rei nodded and thought for a second

"It's my gift.  At first I thought it was a bond to all living beings, but now I know it is my gift to all living beings that cannot fight themselves" she said

Shinji took that answer in and thought about it, before he left though, Rei asked him a question

"Why do _you_ pilot Eva, Ikari?" she asked, fixing Shinji with a penetrating stare

"At first; honour.  You were injured and unable to do it yourself so I couldn't let them send you out, you would have died" he said

"And now?" Rei pressed

"To prove to my father that I am not worthless, like he thinks I am" Shinji admitted

"I see, thank you, Ikari" Rei said and looked at the chronometer on the plugsuit's glove

"It's time to go" she said

"Okay, be careful out there Ayanami" he said and flew to his own Eva

Before Rei got into her Eva, Trunks landed on the platform and smiled at her

"I second that advice; please be careful" he said ruffling Rei's hair

Rei smiled and as fast as she could, tried to nail Trunks across the face but he blocked the strike

"Eager aren't we?" he said, kissing her hand

"I'll see you in the ring, when this is over" she said and hopped into Unit 0's cockpit

Trunks looked over and saw that Goten was saying goodbye to Asuka in his own special, Son, way, acting like a big puppy and making goo-goo eyes at Asuka before kissing like she was going off to die.  That's when it hit Trunks: that may just happen to any of them

[Rei, I love you] Trunks thought as hard as he could, hoping their still developing bond would work

A few seconds later, he found out

[I love you too] it was Rei's voice

**************

Misato looked at the clock in the command trailer, 2 minutes to midnight

[I wonder if this is how D-Day soldiers felt] she wondered

Hyuga looked up from his console

"All Evas are in position and awaiting orders sir" he said

"Okay, 30 seconds.  Shinji, prep the rifle.  Maya, begin connection power" Misato ordered

Shinji cocked the rifle and the power cells began to charge up as the electricity flowed through miles upon miles of cable to the single item: the sniper canon

"It'll be ready for firing in 20 seconds" Aoba said as he checked his readout

"Good.  This may go off without a hitch yet" Misato said

Unfortunately she spoke to soon as Ritsuko announced that the Angel was charging its own weapon for firing

"The Angel's particle beam will fire in 10 seconds!" she cried out

"Aoba?" she asked

"5 seconds" he replied

Outside, Shinji was doing everything short of magic to make his crosshairs line up

"Come on you bastard" he muttered and swore as the targets seemed to slow their convergence

BING

"You're mine" Shinji said and pulled the trigger

A huge beam of purple energy leapt forth from the rifle's barrel and sped towards its target.  But at that exact moment, the Angel's own beam fired.  When the two beams met, their opposing magnetic properties caused them to both veer wildly off course, striking behind each one's respective target

"Shit!" Shinji cursed as he readied the barrel for shot number two

Asuka realised this was her que and quickly positioned herself in front of Shinji so as to keep him from getting shot

"Some aim, 3rd Child" she spat sarcastically

"Shut up, I can't compensate for weird science shit like that" he retorted as the rifle recharged

Meanwhile, the Angel being unhindered by technology; began to ready his own beam again.  This time, he was ready well before Nerv and fired, hitting the shield and nearly launching Asuka from her spot on the ground

"No wonder they call this little shit the Angel of Thunder" Asuka muttered as she dug her feet in and grit her teeth

"Come on you shit of a weapon" Shinji was cursing the gun to cool quicker as Rei took action

"Soryu, your shield is nearly destroyed, pull back and allow me to take your place" Rei said

"Set up behind me first, then I can move and the 3rd won't be blown to kingdom come" Asuka replied as the shield began to melt to her Eva

Rei complied with the sound reasoning and had just set herself up behind Asuka when the primary shield gave up the ghost and Asuka copped one in the chest, sending her over a hill and flat on her back

She groaned out something along the lines of 'you dammed son of a bitch' before passing out

Goten saw this and was not happy, so he flew as fast as he could to his fallen partner

"Asuka!" he cried out

Trunks watched him go and turned his attention back to the fight, Rei was holding up well to the onslaught she was faced with

"Ah ha" Shinji said as his onboard computer said the rifle was ready

Readjusting for the opposing magnetic forces created by the Angel's own beam with the on board targeting system, he fired.  The beam arced perfectly over the enemy and went straight through it, blowing a huge hole out of the back of the Angel

"Eat that!" he cried in triumph as the Angel, whose drill had at that moment broken through to the Geo-Front

Rei dropped her shield and went to help Asuka, when she saw something that truly gave testament to the sheer physical strength of the Saiyens: Goten was at the arm of Unit 2 and with a mighty yell and burst of his own Super Saiyen power, he flipped the giant over onto it's stomach, allowing the Entry plug to eject.  Without wasting time, Goten grabbed the super heated capsule and carefully but quickly brought it to the ground and began to open it

"Open up you piece of crap" he growled as he tried to twist to the handles.

When it became clear that they were fused with the wall; Goten shrugged and ripped a section of the wall off.  Asuka lay unconscious in her chair

"Asuka, wake up!" Goten was frantic

The red head groaned and opened her eyes to see a really something that would forever remain in her mind: Goten, the powerful and hardened warrior; was scared and his eyes bespoke his terror

"Hey, calm down" Asuka cooed in his ear as she was hugged rather tightly by the over emotional boy

"I thought I'd lost you" he mumbled

[Like I lost mum and dad and Gohan] Goten kept that to himself

"Come on, help me out of this thing" Asuka grunted as she tried to get up, but the bulk of a certain someone was stopping her

"Come on" she said, louder this time

"Oh, sorry" he mumbled an apology and helped Asuka out of the plug

"Ah Goten, I know you meant well, but how do I explain that a chunk of my plug was ripped off?" she asked after observing the damage

"Don't worry.  I'll say that I ripped it open for the official report" Shinji said as he scaled down to check on his team mate

Asuka groaned about her sore limbs and Goten promised her the best massage she'd ever get on the planet for an evening activity

"Thanks Asuka, that was the bravest thing I've ever seen, Rei too.  Man I felt like an ass" Shinji said

"Well so you should, you were sitting on it the entire operation" Asuka burst out as Rei and Trunks came down the see what the commotion was about.

All they saw were three laughing teenagers.  Trunks saw that Rei joined them and was even chuckling herself, a little.  He smiled and looked at the sky

[There's hope yet, and where there is hope there is strength] he thought before going over to share in the joke and keep Rei company


	13. The 2nd Generation Is Born

**************************************

An ecstatic Misato and her crew jumped in jubilation as they saw the Angel; fall to the ground; dead

"Alright, chalk one up for the home team" Aoba said and strummed an air guitar

"Okay, clean up time: get Division 21 down here to secure the area and start removal of the Angel corpse" Misato gave the last important order for the evening

"On it" Hyuga got on the phone to said division

"Okay, as soon as the clean up crew are here, we can leave.  Until then, relax a bit people" Misato said as she left the trailer to go and check on the pilots

She trailed down the mountain towards the area where the Children were gathered, passing a medical team on the way

"How are they?" she asked

"They'll be fine.  A few cuts and bruises that a few days of rest won't cure" the medic said

"There were two guys down there with them, but the 2nd Child assured us that they were on the level" he said

[Goten and Trunks no doubt] Misato thought

Before she could ask another question, a riotous noise assailed her ears: singing.

"What the hell is that?" she asked

"WE CAN'T BE BEATEN" was being yelled loudly over the land by a myriad of voices

"That, captain, is a really bad rendition of Rose Tattoo's 'We Can't be Beaten' I believe" a medic with a nose ring said

Misato blinked and continued to go down the mountain to the sound of the loud and off key singing and she would of cried if her position allowed her to: the five kids were gathered around a make shift campfire and Shinji was dancing around doing the main body of the singing, with the others chorusing in every now and then: except Rei, but the fact that she was sitting smiling by the campfire was a rarity in itself.

"Having a good time are we?" she asked, stopping the uproar

"Yeah" Asuka said

"Come on, home I think kiddies" Misato chuckled and helped Asuka up

Shinji and Asuka groaned as they got up from the comfortable seated positions that they were in on the ground and dusted themselves off

"Come on, tell ya what; party at my place in a few.  You kids go there now; Shinji maybe you can go and get Hikari.  After all that noise I'm pretty sure she's still awake" Misato said

"Yeah, and since school will still be out tomorrow; you three can sleep in and relax" Misato added

"Oh that sounds good" Shinji said as he stretched and began walking

Asuka and Rei also began walking, each with those they love in step with them while they trudged up the hill towards home

"Am I invited to this gathering, captain?" Rei asked

Misato turned and looked at the girl quizzically

"Of course; you shared the danger, now you share the celebration" Misato declared to the group

"Oh nuts" Goten exclaimed

Everyone looked at him with questioning looks

"That means me and Trunks don't get to come" he said

To Goten's surprise, everyone burst out laughing at his comment, including Rei.  It was that funny.  Goten was approached by Asuka and whacked upside the head

"Goten, sweetie, lovely that you are.  You can be kind of dumb sometimes" Asuka sighed as she explained that he and Trunks were welcome at the party also

"Oh okay" he said and grinned the famous grin that the Son family all had

Trunks smiled and looked at his friends and girlfriend and a thought struck him like a bolt of lightning: here before him, were the new Z-Warriors.

[The second generation of fighters to protect the Earth from her enemies and already they are warriors; oh yes this planet is in good hands] he thought and told Rei he'd meet her at the party in a few minutes

"I have to get something from my place, I won't be long" he promised and pecked her on the cheek before flying away

Goten, who had been watching his friend's face whilst he was thinking knew what he was going to get

"Misato; if you give me the keys to your place, I'll go and set up a few things for when you all get home" Goten offered

"Thanks Goten, I'll still be here for an hour or two but these three can rock up when they're changed" Misato agreed and tossed the keys to Goten

"Okay; I'll pick up a few munchies on the way home" he called, as he flew off

"Saiyens are big eaters Misato; he'll probably need a few trips just for the food he and Trunks will eat" Asuka said

"What?" she asked

"Just wait and you'll see what I mean" Asuka assured her

*************************

Trunks arrived at his apartment and went inside and began looking for something, a certain capsule that he had in his private collection.  After rifling through all his gear and stuff like that, he found it: Capsule 001.  Grinning he opened it and a small box appeared.  He picked it up left the apartment and continued on his way to Misato's house.

He flew a little slower than normal to enjoy the night air; it felt cool against his skin if he flew slow enough.  Trunks began humming a song to pass the time as he flew.  He was a block away from Misato's house when he looked down and saw four ally scums cornering a woman and he child.

"Their kind never learn" he growled and landed quietly to observe before acting

The four people, for one of them was a woman herself advanced on the defenceless mother

"Come on honey, all we want is the money and you and the kid can leave" the female said

"No, I need this money to feed him" she sobbed as got within a few feet of her

"Tough luck" the biggest one rumbled and made a reach for the woman

Trunks decided he had seen enough and turned Super Saiyen (he didn't want to be recognised later by this person) and stepped into the fray

"Four against one; such bad sportsmanship.  Shame" he said and punched the big one in the face

"Get him" the woman shouted and her other two beefcake buddies leapt for the Saiyen

"Too slow" Trunks mocked them as he lightly kicked them both in the head with a jump split kick

"Now tell madam; why are you robbing this woman?" he asked

"This is out territory: they pay the toll if they want passage through it" she growled and pulled a gun on Trunks

"Ooh a gun.  Shoot me, I dare you" Trunks said and leaned against the wall

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

12 shots spilt into the night from the small automatic pistol; the woman grinned and blew the small puff of smoke from the barrel cowboy style.  Her smugness turned to shock and fear when she saw Trunks was still standing and without any blood on him at all.  Nonchalantly he walked up to her and grabbed her hand.

The woman closed her eyes as she prepared for trouble; but she felt something warm in her palm and nervously opened her eyes: the nearly doubled in size when she saw what the warmness was: 12, recently fired 9mm bullets.  She raised her head to the boy, no older than herself and she was scared; he glowed with his yellow aura and fiery hair

"Now listen to me, very carefully: stop this toll bullshit.  This is a message from me to you and those of your ilk in this area.  Pull a stunt like this again, and you shall all know wrath" he said; his voice cutting her like a blade

She gulped and nodded: Trunks then released her hand and pointed to the three pions on the ground

"Take them as an example of what can and will happen if this sort of thing continues" he added as she fled; leaving her male companions behind

Trunks turned to leave; but he was stopped by a shaky hand on his shoulder

"Thank you" a shaky voice said

[The woman] he realised and turned around to face her

"That was amazing, thank you" she repeated

"It is alright.  I must go now" he said and began to slowly rise into the air

"Wait, what's your name?" she asked

Trunks thought for a minute and remembered Gohan and his Saiyaman debacle: Trunks thought that Gohan deliberately took the Mickey out of himself there.  And unlike his friend he decided no stupid costume, only a name

"Super Saiyen.  My name is Super Saiyen" Trunks answered and flew away; faster this time.

Once in flight he dropped out of Super Saiyen and searched out Goten's Ki.  He soon found it and the apartment it was in and landed on the balcony.  Trunks knocked on the glass to get Goten's attention

"Oh Trunks is here" Goten said to himself and let his friend in

"Hi.  The others here yet?" he asked

"No, now help me set up" Goten answered as he piled food onto the small tables in the house

"Okay, okay" Trunks said wearily and put the box on top of the fridge and began to help set up a party spread to be remembered

Not long after they had finished, Rei and the others arrived, with Hikari in tow: they stared at the large amount of food and drink (all of it non-alcoholic) and went for it with gusto; even Rei ate faster than normal because she was hungry.  Trunks and Goten also dug in, with more speed than anyone thought possible

"My, god" Hikari stared as Goten drank an entire jug of Coke as if it were a glass

Trunks ate with a bit more restraint but still managed to put the food away as if he was starving

"You must have a very metabolism" Rei said as she drank a cup of green tea

"You have no idea" Trunks said, winking at her

Rei returned the wink with a level stare a smile over the teacup.  Asuka watched this small exchange with more interest than is deemed normal for most subjects in life

[I don't believe it; she's, she's flirting with him] she thought in amazement

Soon, most of the food was gone and some music was on while they sat in chairs and simply talked; exchanged tales of woe, humour and others of interest.  Misato's arrival, with one Mr. Kaji in tow was greeted with a few helloes and waves from the occupants of the main room.  Misato soon pulled a few to many beers and was careening around the house in a madness

Kaji was left with the task of handling his somewhat drunk girlfriend but with a little coaxing Misato sat down and relaxed a little.  However upon an inspection; she saw that Trunks and Rei were asleep on the couch despite the noise: at least Trunks was, Rei wasn't

Trunks was a heavy sleeper according to Goten and made very little noise aside from breathing when he slept but his tail tended to flick around while he slept, as was the case here.  Once the confused Kaji was let in on what these two extraordinary boys were he was cool.  Rei was sitting with Trunks's feet on her lap; his tail had made its way around her thigh as best it could and Rei, out of sheer curiosity stroked the appendage: the fur was smooth like his hair.  But it produced a much more fascinating reaction from its owner

He made a loud deep throated noise that was, kind of strange.  Goten couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing at what happened

"Goten, what was that noise?" Hikari asked

"It was Trunks" he answered

"We know who made it, we want to know what it is" Asuka said leaning over Goten and brandishing her fist in such a manner as to threaten him

"He was *chortle* purring" he said with some difficulty

Misato, indeed most of those assembled blinked

"Purring?" Shinji asked

"Like a cat?" Hikari prodded

"Yeah, and for the same reason" he said and winked at Rei; who was now an uncharacteristic shade of red and trying to be very small

"I didn't mean to do that" was all she said

"Don't worry Rei, Goten here is the same" Asuka said again whacking Goten upside of the head

"Asuka, maybe I should mention that I am not into S & M" Goten made the unwise choice of tying to be witty around Asuka

She then began to yell at him all sorts of threats to his manliness, digs at his (as yet undemonstrated) sexual prowess and other aspects of his being.  But due to the red on her face, Asuka's argument lost a lot of credibility.  Goten blinked and looked Asuka up and down

"You know, you are really sexy when you're angry and flushed" he said

His death warrant was sealed upon the completion of that sentence

******************************

Misato awoke the next morning with a wicked hangover and an even more wicked stomach cramp from too much rich food.  A quick look beside her confirmed that she was not alone in her futon; the sleeping face of Kaji greeted her

[Gentleman spy, I think not] the thought with humour and got up for a coffee

Asuka was still snoring in her room and Hikari was in Shinji's room because Shinji and Goten were passed out on the floor of the main room after finding some of Misato's 'special moonshine' in a cupboard.  Misato scanned the room for the other two participants of last night's bash and saw them on the couch.  It was so cute Misato wanted insulin

Rei was curled up like a baby in Trunks's lap with her head on his chest; and he had his arms around her: hell would most likely freeze over before an outside force broke that hold.  A light blanket had been thrown over them, no doubt Hikari or Kaji's work before they had retired to bed themselves

Misato dimly remembered Asuka (vainly) trying to beat Goten up last night after he called her sexy, but there weren't any tell tale signs to that effect on the boy's face so she dismissed the thought while making her coffee

"Good morning, my dear" a deep voice grated her nerves in that equally irritating and irresistible manner that it always had

"It was for you" she said and poured the coffee

A knock at the door prevented Kaji from retorting to that remark

"I'll get it, Misato" he said and went to the door in his bathrobe

"Ah good morning Ritsuko, Sub-Commander" Kaji said, a little louder than was required

[Sub-Commander, oh hell if he catches Rei asleep on Trunks he'll have my head] her thought processes were unfortunately not as fast as her reflexes or ability to move

Fuyutski walked into the apartment with little regard to the man trying to distract or stop him and into the main room: Misato was still in her dressing gown when she made it into the room and saw the last thing on earth she needed her superiors to see

Ritsuko caught up and although was rather ecstatic for her little sister, she groaned at the grilling Misato would most likely receive for this slip in duties and stood well out of the way of the old but very tall man.  Fuyutski was about to ask if Misato would brew him a cup of coffee when he saw Rei; still asleep in her overly cute position

"Captain, would you care to explain this?" he asked, tapping his foot in impatience

"Well sir, I really can't explain it.  It happened while I was still on duty last night: there was a small celebration here for the pilots and their significant others" she said with no amount of humiliation

"It's a serious lapse in judgement is what it is" Fuyutski said

"With all due respect sir, what the children do while off duty is none of our business" Misato offered her opinion on the matter

"Captain; I agree that they should have privacy, but given their age it's inappropriate I'm afraid" he said, genuinely sympathetic

"In that case sir, may I respectfully suggest that you either allow Goten to wake them or let them wake up themselves" she said, not wanting Fuyutski, a nice man, to be very badly assaulted if he tried to wake Rei a little roughly

"Why, may I ask?" he enquired with a puzzled grimace

"Because sir; Trunks is fiercely protective of Rei.  It's in his nature to be like that" Ritsuko decided to intervene

"I see" the man looked at Trunks: the mysterious and interesting youth who had managed to secure the heart of Rei

"I'll allow them to wake on their own accord" he said and turned to his Chief of Operations

It is at that moment that Misato realised that something very important was happening for the Sub-Commander to personally visit her home, with Ritsuko as well.  And she doubted that it was regarding a small disciplinary problem

"Sir, with respect: why are you here visiting me at 8:30 in the morning?" Misato asked

Fuyutski laughed a little and held out a small polished wooden box with and attached letter to Misato

"This is for the 2nd Child" he said

Misato stole a glance in the box and her eyes widened a little and she snapped the box shut; Kaji was trying to see it buy failed

"I'll leave the presentation to you captain, good day" he said and saluted

Misato returned the salute with as much dignity as a woman who hasn't washed, eaten, totally woken up or recovered from a large hangover can; all while dressed in a white bathrobe.

As the Sub-Commander left, he said two things

"You have been given the day off captain, enjoy it" this he said aloud

"Ikari will have a shit when he hears this", that part, he muttered.

***********************

A few minutes after Fuyutski left, Rei and Trunks woke up.  But not before Ritsuko, who quickly went and borrowed Misato's camera, snapped a picture of the two of them asleep together

"And what have you got planned for that?" Kaji asked as Ritsuko took the Polaroid and slipped it into her jeans pocket

"21st birthday embarrassment material" she replied

Rei rubbed her eyes and blushed when she saw that she was sitting on Trunks

"Well, good morning" he said softly

"Yes, although I think we are drawing a little too much attention to remain in this comfortable manner" Rei said, pointing to the three pairs of eyes watching them

"Oh, I see" Trunks said, blushing a bit himself as Rei got off him and went to have a shower

As soon as she was gone, Kaji and Misato cackled loudly, waking Goten and Shinji

"And what is so hilariously funny that you have to wake me up with your laughing?" Shinji asked

"Yeah" chorused Goten as he rubbed his head

"That" Kaji replied as he handed the two boys the picture

Goten was the first to do anything: he smiled and eased over to his buddy

"So, you want a suit or the Royal Armour?" he joked

"Shut up fool, at least we trust each other enough to allow that situation" he shot back

Shinji then added his two cents

"Yeah Goten, I have to agree, Trunks and Rei are on better ground than you and Asuka are" he remarked

"Shut up" Goten hissed

"Oh, why is that Shinji?" Trunks asked

"Well Asuka decided to try and kill Goten after he called her sexy" Shinji said before Goten leapt for him, to get him to shut up

Trunks chuckled and got up and stretched: his clothes smelt of Rei: he wasn't planning on washing them in a hurry.  He went over to the counter and drank the whole coffee jug in one gulp.  Soon after, Asuka and Hikari entered the room

"What a party" Hikari groaned as she reached for an apple

"So Hikari, where did you sleep last night?" Shinji asked

"In Asuka's room; we had mad lesbian sex all night" Hikari said

"Oh, and you didn't even let me watch" Goten said

"Cool" Shinji said

Kaji was timing in his head

[5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0] he thought

On the 0, Shinji and Goten both spat out their drinks and looked at their respective girlfriends and cried out

"WHAT?"

[Bingo, right on the dot] Kaji said to himself

The two females in the room remained silent and bemused

"She was joking guys: Hikari slept in your bed Shinji, you may want to frame that load of linen" Asuka said as she handed Hikari a 50 Yen note

"What was that all about?" Shinji asked

"Hikari bet me 50 Yen that you two wouldn't believe us if one of said we had sex last night" Asuka explained

"Oh okay" Goten said and resumed drinking what remained of his juice

Misato picked up the box Fuyutski had delivered this morning and held it behind her back

"Asuka, there was a parcel for you this morning" she said

"Oh, where is it?" Asuka asked

"It was from Nerv, here" she handed her the box and began reading the letter

"Evangelion Pilot Soryu,

For your great display of bravery against the 5th Angel, indeed nearly dying to defend the 3rd Child, the city and this world, we award you with the Nerv Medal for Valour

Congratulations,

Commander Ikari"

Misato finished reading the letter aloud as Asuka removed the three point star shaped medal with the symbol of Nerv on it and a small plate with the words 'For extreme Valour in the course of Duty' written on it

"Wow, congratulations Asuka" Hikari and Shinji said

"Yeah, we're very proud of you" Goten said and picked Asuka up and spun her around, making her giggle

"Put me down you big brute" she said

Trunks all the while said nothing and went to find his box: he nodded to Goten who nodded back as he put Asuka down and kissed her.  Rei emerged from her shower in a fresh set of clothes she'd brought with her last night

"Asuka was given a medal for valour" Hikari said

Rei smiled a little and congratulated Asuka

"Thanks everyone" she said, all smug.  The medal had inflated her ego somewhat

Trunks stood up and cleared his throat

"May I have your attention please" he said, making everyone look at him

He opened the box and pulled out four necklaces, each one had a medallion on it with a Z embossed on one side

"A long time ago, Goten and I were part of a special group called Z Fighters, a special team of warriors skilled in using Ki" he started

They were following him well enough

"We each wore one of these as a show of membership.  But sadly most of the team are dead.  Except us" he paused and held the necklaces up

"And now I am asking you: Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Hikari, if you will join me and Goten in being the 2nd Generation of Z Fighters" he said

Asuka, without any hesitation at all, grabbed one of the necklaces and put it on.  Shinji and Hikari also took one after some thought and consideration.  Trunks went over to Rei and held one out to her

"Rei, what do you say?" Trunks asked

Rei looked at the necklace and gave it some thought: would this bind her into anything she didn't want to do?  Or could this be something that she would be able to be a part of long after the need for Evangelions was gone.  Could they be, her family

"Answer me this: what were the Z Fighters, the old ones" she asked

"They were a group of friends and their loved ones, although my mother and Goten's mother never fought, Videl did.  And she was a good warrior.  So did my sister and Goten's niece" he explained

"You were a family then, regardless of blood ties" Rei surmised

"Yeah, and when the need called for it, we saved the world on a few occasions" he said

Rei ignored the last part: that was all she needed to hear: family, something she had so little of now, would be increased by this joining, or course she and Trunks would remain as they were to each other.  But it meant that now Hikari and Goten were her family now.  The bond of family already forged with Shinji and Asuka from Eva piloting.  And it was possible that one day, the old Z Fighters would come.  And then she would have a large family

"I accept" she whispered and took the necklace, putting it on

Trunks smiled and they went over to the others.  Goten grinned as the pendants began to glow softly.  Hikari and the others turned them over and saw that a '2' had appeared on the blank part at the back of the pendant

"Goten Son"

"Shinji Ikari"

"Asuka Langley Soryu"

"Trunks Briefs"

"Rei Ayanami"

"Hikari Horaki"

Trunks grinned as the adults watched on in interest

"Z Fighters, 2nd Generation", Trunks said

No one thought it then, except maybe Rei with her blossoming powers could foresee that this bond they had just entered into was so strong that it would help them in the times ahead, and that it would last for a lifetime.  She smiled broadly at that thought

************************

A/N: this was also a small filler chapter before the restarting of the Tournament that was suspended when the 5th Angel attacked.  And I used it as an excuse to induct the pilots and Hikari into the Z Fighters

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	14. Equals

**********************

Most of that day was spent relaxing and even though Goten insisted on a small party fro the new inductees to the Z Fighters; Trunks threatened to kill him several times over if one was put on: he was still really embarrassed about purring last night, even though it was Rei who'd stroked his tail, he was still feeling a bit dumb for letting it wrap around her thigh

"Goten, get your butt out here for Tekken, now" Asuka called

The group, minus Rei and Trunks were assembled around the Katsuragi television to see Asuka and Goten play Tekken

"Where did Trunks and Rei go?" Hikari asked

"No sure, probably went home to relax" Goten said as he came into the living room

"But they could of relaxed here" Shinji piped up

Hikari shook her head

"No I don't think so" she said and ruffled Shinji's hair

"Why though?" he asked

"Because they're really private people.  Rei as you know is very shy about her feelings anyway and Trunks, well, I guess it's just his way to be private" Hikari explained

"Hikari's right; Trunks's dad was the same.  Not for the life of him at first could he relax in such large company with his wife.  But in private he could.  It's just a trait Trunks has and I think it's also why the two get on so well" Goten added

"Oh, so you're saying because they both like to keep feelings in house it draws them to each other and in the process draws these feelings out?" Shinji asked

"Bingo, 3rd Child, maybe you aren't as dumb as you seem" Asuka remarked

There was silence as the Tekken tournament began

*******************************

In the quiet of Trunks's apartment, the only noise was the steady sound of two people breathing slowly; the noise of sleep.  Trunks was on the couch with his feet on a foot rest and Rei's head in his lap with her stretched over the rest of the couch.  This time he made sure his wayward tail was safely unable to grasp the sleeping angel in his lap.  The quiet of the apartment continued for some hours, well into the afternoon in fact as both teens were very tired and Rei was sore from the mission.

Trunks woke up feeling hungry and went into the kitchen to make a sandwich: which really meant any kind of food he could get his hands on was slapped between two large slices of rye bread

"Okay, turkey, ham, chicken, duck, beef.  Mayonnaise, mustard, and kebab sauce.  Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, capsicum, olives.  That'll do for a small snack" he said and began making his lunch

In his mad rush to eat the giant meal, he woke Rei up.  She got up and came into the kitchen and the sight she saw would make her laugh for the rest of her life: Trunks was on the ground because in his Saiyen way, he had tried to eat the sandwich whole and now had it stuck in his mouth and was trying to get it out.

Trunks thought Rei was going to yell at him for being piggish.  Instead, her lips began curving upwards; then a fully fledged smile hit her face.  But it didn't stop there, she began shaking, then giggles escaped her mouth, then chuckles until eventually Rei slid down the door frame nearly convulsing in loud, outrageous laughter at the sight of Trunks: warrior and super being trying to unstick a large sandwich from his mouth

Trunks grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote on it:

'I am glad this is funny for you, but, can I please have some help' the message read

"Okay" she said and went over to help

Rei grabbed Trunks's jaws and yanked them apart and the sandwich fell on the floor with a plop and a splat.  Then she reset his jaw

"Oh damn.  All that pain and I still didn't get a sandwich out of it" he pouted

"Come on. I think we should train a little.  We have a Tournament to continue tomorrow" Rei said and went home to change into her Gi

"Indeed" Trunks said and picked up his sandwich and ate it anyway, in smaller portions however.

**************************

And so they trained: in the mountains far from the city and most things civilised.  Rei's power continued to grow at an alarming rate, when it eventually came to the point where Trunks had to almost power up to Super Saiyen to keep things even between them.  After several hours of this hard training they sat down to rest

"You're improving at a remarkable rate Rei; this kind of improvement is rare in any fighter" Trunks complemented his girlfriend on her abilities

"Thank you" she replied and took a drink of water

Trunks got up and looked around: not a soul for miles: he then decided that here is where the demonstration would be done

"Rei, I am bringing Misato and some of the others here: to show them my power so they won't be afraid of me any more.  Any objections?" he asked

"No" she answered simply

"Of course, if you feel like demonstrating your superiority to the others as well, I certainly won't stop you" he added

Trunks noticed a slight brightening of her eyes when he said that

"Shall we train some more or are you tired?" Trunks asked

"I am a little tired" Rei replied and got up, stretching

Trunks took this opportunity to admire his girlfriend: she was smaller than him by a few inches; and leaner.  Her skin was still pale but was a lot darker than it used to be.  Her muscles had thickened out a little, giving her very powerful legs and arms.  Trunks went behind Rei and encircled her waist with his arms and nuzzled her neck

"What are you doing?" she asked, going red

"Just reinforcing that I love you, and to compliment you; you've grown more beautiful since I met you" he said, his voice was deep

"Then in turn Trunks, I must say that you are a rather handsome young man.  And I love you also" she replied, grateful of the attention

Like before at the party, Trunks's tail had wrapped itself around her thigh

"Does that happen a lot?" she asked, pointing the offending appendage

"Occasionally" Trunks replied and willed back around his waist

"Come on, we should get home and a rest a little.  And you need a shower" Rei said, playfully jibing Trunks

"As milady commands" he said and bowed extravagantly before taking off towards the sky

[Oh, so you want to play do you?] Rei thought and gave chase

The aerial game of tag lasted for the duration of the flight home and even continued into the apartment for a little while.  They darted around the room until it developed in a wrestling match.  It was all even until Rei tripped Trunks over, and pinned him down by straddling him

"Pinned" she said, getting right in his face with an uncharacteristically sly grin on her face

"Well, since it ended up this way, I gladly accept the loss" he shot back, and yet again his tail wrapped itself around Rei's thigh

The pair were in fact seconds away from kissing each other when Goten, Ritsuko, a camera carrying Misato and the rest of the Z Fighters walked in

FLASH

Trunks and Rei blinked as Misato snapped a photo of them in what could easily be called an awkward position

"Well, this should make a handy and cute addition to my blackmail scrapbook" she teased and hid the camera

Rei was up and into the showers before anyone else could take a happy snap, leaving Trunks on the floor, blinking at the roof for almost three minutes before he eventually said something

"Damn it!" he cursed as he got up and glared at Misato

"Man, I never figured you were into the cutesy thing" Goten jibed, giggling

"Shut up" Trunks snapped and went to his room to get changed into his Saiyen battle armour

Rei emerged from the shower to a round of applause from her sister

"Bravo Rei, very well conquered" she said and smirked at her blushing sibling

Trunks chose that moment to emerge in his Saiyen clothing: a skin tight spandex body suit with white gloves and boots made from something no one recognised.  His battle armour was made from the same material; it was the same design as his father's later uniform

"Shall we?" he said and pointed to the door

Rei used his entrance to nip into the guest room and change into her Gi again: while changing she reflected on the sight she had just seen: she knew Trunks had muscles under those baggy pants and shirts, but damn.  She had not expected anything like that.  Shaking her head she got into her clothes and reverted back to her old self: she still felt a little uncomfortable being relaxed with the others around

"I am ready" she said in her normal monotone voice as she emerged from the room

"Okay, everyone out" Trunks said and herded the group outside

***********************

It ended up that Goten and Trunks were carrying Ritsuko and Misato to the area for the demonstration because although they both knew how to use Ki, neither had enough to fly

[This is bullshit] Goten griped as he tightened his grip around the nervous Misato

Trunks was lucky that Ritsuko wasn't afraid of heights, or him for that matter because that was still half of Misato's problem: she was scared of Goten and himself

"Okay, we're here" Trunks said and dived down to the clearing where he and Rei were training hours earlier

Misato and the others all sat down while Trunks, Goten and Rei stood up front

"No doubt Goten has explained to you what we are" Trunks began

The group nodded

"Well then, let's get this circus on the road" Goten said

Trunks began to power up; he was going to make a show of it though

"HAH!" he cried and powered up to Super Saiyen 1

"This is Super Saiyen; a legendary level of power supposedly to awaken in our people once every thousand years" Goten gave the commentary

Trunks grinned and began to turn it up a notch, this time, the ground shook and the trees began to sway

"HAAAAH" a longer scream as his hair now stuck straight up and became pointier and the aura darkened while creating a crater

"This is the level called Ascended Super Saiyen; or more simply, Super Saiyen 2" Goten again explained it

Misato was shaking: his power was astounding and the amount of energy he gave off could power the Evas for nearly a month non stop if she calculated the whole thing correctly

"Well I think that's everything" Goten said

Trunks however, had other ideas and smiled as he began to yet again increase his power; making everyone including Goten spin around in shock

"What the hell?" Goten said

"And this is to, even further, beyond" Trunks quoted Goku as he began to again transform

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" his scream was so loud people in the next town heard it

The aura tripled in power and size: the crater underneath him became deeper and wider.  Misato was the first to note that Trunks's hair had begun to grow longer, until it reached his waist.  With a final short scream and flash of light, he was finished

"Wow" Shinji gasped

"You'll forgive me for the delay, but I haven't had much cause to use this before on my own.  This is Super Saiyen 3" Trunks said

Now even Ritsuko was amazed; and she had seen some truly amazing things

"Rei, I do believe that you wanted to also demonstrate your power" Trunks said and handed the stage over to his girlfriend

Rei nervously took the spot light and began to power up herself: she grit her teeth and put as much power into it as she could, creating an effect not unlike Trunks's level 3 power up.  She also began think about things that made her angry, apparently it made the adrenaline really turn it up and as a result more Ki was allowed the flow through the body.

She thought of things like Toji putting her down, Misato looking over her and people hating her for no reason

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH" she gave an almighty scream and a bright white flash illuminated the area

When it cleared; all assembled were treated to a sight to behold: Rei was glowing alabaster white, so much so that it became painful to look at her

"Trunks, what happened?" Rei was getting frightened: she could feel her own power at it was a hell of a lot larger than it was a few hours ago

"Calm down; remember what I taught you: calm down and control the aura" he put himself between him and the rest of the group

It took a few minutes, but eventually Rei dulled the brightness surrounding her.  But her power was still huge.  She was well past Super Saiyen in power, by now she nudging a bit over Super Saiyen 2

"Wow.  That was incredible Rei" Hikari said and bounded over to her friend and gave her a hug.

Only to promptly be sent flying back from the all the power just cruising around her body

"Whoa, I'll think twice before hugging you again" she grumbled as she stood up

"Sorry, Hikari" Rei mumbled

Trunks decided to take a bit of action

"Okay, Goten: take Misato and the others home, Ritsuko I think you should stay and give us some help here" he said

Misato quickly snapped a few pictures of the pair before Goten picked her up and flew away.  Hikari, Shinji and Asuka followed after another quick look at their friends

"Okay, Ritsuko.  I know Rei's special, but I've never seen a human do that before" he said and sat down: the two women did the same

"It's because I am not totally human Trunks" Rei said softly

"Yeah I know" he said and looked at Ritsuko again for an explanation

"I don't know anything about this" she said

Rei looked at her sister forlornly

"Do you remember the accident I had as a child, where I cut myself on some glass and nearly bled to death?" Rei asked

"Yeah: you had a blood transfusion from a donor at Nerv…" Ritsuko allowed her brain to pull everything back into place

"What ever was given to me that day; it wasn't human blood" Rei said and looked at the ground, almost shamefully

"Ritsuko: I suggest that you keep this information to yourself.  It could cause problems and get you into trouble" Rei added before Ritsuko did something stupid

"Okay, just don't expect me to like it" she growled while imagining Gendo Ikari's head between a hydraulic compactor press, a` la Terminator

"I'll take a walk, give you two some time alone" Ritsuko said and went to check out the copse of trees a few meters away

Rei looked at Trunks, he still hadn't powered down from Super Saiyen 3

"Do you still love me?" she asked

"That's a silly question: nothing will stop me loving you, not even death" he said and reached his hand out to her; Ki sparks flew between them on contact

"I met you, and I fell in love with you.  When I trained you I could feel the hidden potential you had, just begging to be let out.  And now it is, no force on the face of this planet will ever harm you, and if they do.  They can answer to me" he said, puffing himself up a little

Rei had to smile at his bantam rooster like behaviour when it came to himself, but even more so at his crazed Rottweiler habits when it boiled down to her safety

"Thank you" she said

Trunks stood up and held his hand out to her; she took it and he helped her up

"No thanks needed" he said

Ritsuko watched the whole thing from the trees and then it dawned on her why, apart from mutual attraction, that Rei and Trunks went well together: they were equals.  They were both powerful and respected each other's power.  As Trunks called her over, Ritsuko's mind was filled with a single thought

[Gendo Ikari; whatever you've done to that girl, it shall be your undoing] she thought before the trio rejoined their friends

***************************

Sorry for the late update but I just went back to College.  So further updates will take longer to come


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